Rodney and Fatherhood
by dwparsnip
Summary: Tiny glimpses into the trials and tribulations of fatherhood, as experienced by one Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay.
1. Complicated Diapers

I don't own Stargate Atlantis or its characters...MGM does.

This was brought on by the memory of me and two friends trying to do what Rodney is doing. We didn't have as much trouble and we were more successful, but I thought it was funny nonetheless.

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"That's not how you do it, Rodney!" exclaimed Sheppard in an excited whisper.

"Excuse me, Sheppard," shot back Rodney, "but who's the super genius around here?" He peered back down at the object before him then said in a voice that was equal to Sheppard's in volume, "And keep your voice down! You'll wake Jennifer."

In tune as any flesh and blood brothers would be, both men turned in perfect synchronicity to make sure that Jennifer was still in fact asleep in her nearby bed. Reassured, and immensely relieved, that they hadn't disturbed the exhausted doctor, they both looked down to the object over which they were having their latest adventure.

Sheppard leaned closer to Rodney and whispered for the third time in twenty minutes, "Maybe we should call Teyla."

"No," answered Rodney with a resolute shake of his head. "I can do this." He reached down and rearranged this and fixed that. A moment later Rodney nodded with satisfaction and said confidently, "There."

John was shaking his head long before Rodney had finished. "That's not going to work there, Rodney."

Rodney turned to Sheppard and asked, "Why not?"

John pointed down and explained. "Well, for one thing…"

"Never mind," interrupted Rodney when he realized what Sheppard was going to say. "I see it."

Once again Rodney tried to fix the object, but when he looked up to Sheppard the Colonel was once again shaking his head.

"Look, Rodney," tried Sheppard soothingly, "maybe it's just not your thing. Let's just call Teyla…"

"Look, Sheppard," Rodney said roughly. He poked his finger into Sheppard's chest and added, "I figure out, repair and maintain Ancient technology, invent new devices, figure out complex problems and save your ass on a daily basis." He returned his attention to the object and once again tried to fix the problem before him. When he finished he looked to Sheppard again.

After a moment of basking in his triumph, Rodney reached down and carefully picked up his two day old daughter and cradled her in his arms, just as Jennifer had shown him to do. He looked at Sheppard and added smugly, "I can put a diaper on my daughter."

Sheppard nodded, apparently impressed with Rodney's parenting prowess, or so Rodney thought.

"Very good, Rodney," said Sheppard with a smirk. "But what's that on the bed and on your shirt?"

"What?" asked Rodney. He looked to the bed and nearly cursed when he found the diaper he'd just been trying to put on his daughter laying abandoned on the bed. The second part of Sheppard's question rang in Rodney's mind and he lifted his little girl off his chest enough to see a fresh wet stain gracing his shirt.

Rodney turned to Sheppard, and to his surprise he saw honest sympathy in the Colonel's eyes.

"Now?" asked Sheppard.

Rodney hesitated, but only for a moment, and then reluctantly nodded.

Sheppard reached up and tapped his earpiece. "Sheppard to Teyla…we need you in the Infirmary ASAP…diaper emergency."

Rodney began gently swaying back forth so his daughter would remain asleep and said, "At least we didn't wake Jennifer. If she saw this…"

"Rodney?" interrupted Jennifer's tired voice from behind him.

"…crap."


	2. Breast Foot Forward

Well, I've decided to add to this. Hope you like it.

I still don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. MGM does.

It hasn't been run through a beta, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

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"You sure about this, Rodney," asked Sheppard as Rodney stifled his fourth yawn since leaving the lab. The door to his and Jennifer's room came into view and Sheppard motioned to it with his hand. "Why don't you go on and get some sleep, if you can."

Sleep had been fleeting for Rodney at the best of times, but since the arrival of his little miracle sleep had become as precious to him as the much sought after ZPM.

"No, it's fine," managed Rodney. "Jennifer and the baby have been home for a few days now, and she wants to have everyone in for a little while." Rodney rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked to his watch. "Besides, everyone else should already be here."

The two men walked up to the door and Rodney, his movements sluggish and slightly suspect, passed his hand over the sensor. The door slid open and they were immediately met with the subdued hum of multiple conversations.

_It's a full house,_ thought Sheppard as he followed Rodney inside.

Jennifer was sitting in the big rocker-recliner that Rodney had 'appropriated' from the Daedalus' rec room, (no one knew for sure how he'd managed it, but the fact that Caldwell hadn't demanded its return and actually acted civil towards Rodney made everyone suspect that some sort of extortion was being committed); in the love seat off to Jennifer's left sat Teyla, who was smiling widely as she cradled the newest addition to Atlantis' family in her arms; on the bigger couch directly across from Teyla's couch sat Woolsey, Amelia and Nancy, one of Keller's nurses; in the armchair that resided across from Jennifer sat Lorne; and leaning against the wall behind the couch, (and directly behind Amelia), was none other than Ronon.

Lorne gave Rodney one look and sympathy for the man's exhaustion forced him up and to say, "Here you go, Doc. You look dead on your feet."

Equally sympathetic looks were given to Rodney from everyone as he all but collapsed into the chair with a mumbled thank you, and before John could figure out where to sit, the new father had his head leaned back and adding his contribution to the quiet conversation in the form of soft snores.

John motioned for Lorne to take the seat next to Teyla and he moved over to sit on the well padded arm of the chair Rodney had fallen asleep in, confident in the likelihood that nothing short of a nuclear blast underneath the chair could wake Rodney.

And sure enough as the conversation continued on Rodney never so much as stirred and only barely made a sound, which surprised Jennifer, John, Teyla and Ronon, who had had the unfortunate opportunity to hear the deafening snoring that could came from Rodney as he slept.

Teyla looked down to the child she snuggled into her and frowned, though the frown lasted only a second until it was replaced by realization and then a smile. "I believe it is time for her to feed, Jennifer."

Without warning Rodney's eyes flew open and he declared loudly as he vaulted up out of the chair, "Everybody out!"

THUMP!!!!!!

"Holy crap, Rodney!" exclaimed Sheppard as he gingerly picked himself up off the floor where Rodney's unexpected outburst had deposited him. "A little warning next time before you give me a heart attack."

Rodney ignored Sheppard and moved swiftly to Teyla and carefully took the baby from her. He looked down to his child as she stirred in his arms and a look of pure adoration settled onto his face. He took a step and looked down to Jennifer, shared a smile with her and leaned down to place the child in her arms.

With that done Rodney whirled around and said in a tone that was as threatening as they'd heard ever from him, "Good night."

The glances that spread throughout the group were quick and meaningful.

"It is getting rather late," said Woolsey as he eased himself up off the couch.

Rodney nodded. "Yes it…"

"No it's not," Jennifer interrupted firmly.

Rodney spun around and he could feel the blood drain from his face at the glare Jennifer was giving him.

Her usual friendly demeanor returned instantly as she turned and said, "Teyla, could you hand me that blanket please?"

Rodney watched as Teyla retrieved the blanket and passed it to Jennifer. With an expertise that amazed him, though in the deeper recesses of his mind he knew it shouldn't have, Jennifer tossed one corner of the blanket up over her left shoulder and let the rest of the blanket fall down so that it covered the front part of her body and their little girl. Keeping the blanket on her shoulder with the side of her chin she manipulated her clothing and maneuvered their baby without looking, and a moment later the gentle sound of a baby suckling her mother could be heard.

"Now," said Jennifer as she began rocking, and after giving a mortified Rodney one more warning glance she added, "what were we talking about?"

There was silence in the room until Sheppard said, "Close your mouth and sit down, Rodney."

Rodney whirled around to give the Colonel a piece of his mind, but even as he was about to let Sheppard have it he knew it was pointless. Without uttering a word Rodney nodded and then walked back to the chair and sat down.

He managed to hear Amelia ask if they'd finally managed to pick out a name before sleep once again demanded his undivided attention.


	3. What's in a Name?

Another chapter. Interesting.

I still don't own Stargate Atlantis…it's still MGM's.

I have no idea what Keller's mother's name is, at least I don't recall it ever being mentioned. I may be wrong about that and I'm willing to be corrected.

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Neither Jennifer nor Rodney could remember why they hadn't picked out a name for their child before the birth. They had theories of course, like they wanted to wait to see if it was a boy or a girl, (neither wanted to know beforehand, which delighted John to no end as Rodney usually despised surprises of any kind), but they just couldn't remember consciously deciding not to pick one.

As it was, they were glad that they had waited, for doing so gave them the chance to gauge their child's temperament and behavior, hoping that some little quirk of hers or some other quality would help them to choose a name that was truly worthy of her.

Two weeks after Jennifer delivered the baby into the world and an exhaustive search of every baby name book known to man, they still didn't have a name that really fit their little miracle.

"Still haven't figured out a name, hunh?" asked Sheppard as he sat down in the chair across from Rodney.

Rodney looked up from his lunch and groaned at the look of sheer pleasure on his friend's face. "No, Mister State the Obvious, we haven't!" Sheppard opened his mouth but Rodney quickly added, "And no, we're not naming her Sue. Or Katy. Or Rosanna. Or Rose. Or any other female name that just so happens to be in the title of a Johnny Cash song."

Sheppard frowned as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "You're no fun, Meredith." His eyes widened and he pointed excitedly at Rodney. "Why don't you…"

"I am NOT naming my daughter Meredith, thank you very much!" Rodney gave the Colonel a dismissive wave and turned his attention back to his lunch. "Don't you have anything better to do than sit here and waste my time with your juvenile suggestions?"

Sheppard gave Rodney a smile and stood up. "Now that you mention it, I'm supposed to have a meeting with Woolsey about getting some replacement MALPs." He tapped Rodney on the shoulder as he passed by and said, "See you later, Meredith."

Rodney's shoulders shrunk and he refused to give the Colonel any type of response, hoping that if he showed his friend that it didn't bother him, (even though it irritated the hell out of him), he'd stop doing it. He knew the odds were against it, but nothing else seemed to work.

"Is there something the matter, Rodney?"

Rodney looked up to see Teyla standing next to him, concern easily evident in the tilt of her head and the look in her eyes. "What? No, not really." He picked up the tablet that had been sitting abandoned on the table next to his lunch and held it up so she could read the list of names on the screen.

"I see," said Teyla as she moved towards the chair that John had vacated moments earlier. She motioned to the chair and asked, "May I sit down?"

Rodney nodded without giving it a thought, Teyla being one of the very few people on Atlantis that he'd given carte blanche seating privileges to, though she still always asked first.

"Perhaps you are trying too hard," she suggested once she'd settled into the chair. "The proper name will come to you when it comes to you, and there is no doubt that it will come."

Rodney sighed as he nodded at her. "I know, it's just…I want to be able to talk to her and about her without calling her 'the baby' or 'kid' or whatever."

"That is understandable, Rodney," Teyla said with a smile that told him she did indeed understand perfectly. She reached over and placed her hand on his and gave it a supportive squeeze. "Remember that we are here to help you if you need it."

She released his hand and sat back, suddenly smiling and waving at someone behind him. He turned around and found Torren and Kanaan sitting at what had become the Emmagan table.

Rodney returned Kanaan's wave and turned back to look at Teyla. "Thanks for…well, thanks for everything."

"You are most welcome, Rodney," she said as she stood up. She started walking towards Kanaan and Torren but hesitated beside Rodney long enough to say, "It is what family is for, isn't it?"

Rodney thought about that for a moment. _You know, I wouldn't mind if my little girl grows up to be like Teyla,_ he thought. _Strong, beautiful, intelligent, kind…_

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Three hours later the team, plus Woolsey, sat and waited in Jennifer and Rodney's living room in silent anticipation. The call had come moments earlier that a decision had been made about baby Keller-McKay's name and everyone had rushed to the room, with Woolsey leading the charge.

It seemed that being one of the little girl's godfathers had put a little extra spring in the bureaucrat's step.

The bedroom door opened and Jennifer, with the little one in her arms, walked out with Rodney close behind. The threesome moved to a place near the rocker-recliner where everyone could see them and Jennifer spoke.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," she said with a smile, "but we have an announcement to make."

She turned to Rodney and he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"You came up with it, Rodney," she said with no small amount of pride in her voice. "You tell them."

Rodney hesitated for a moment and then scanned the expectant faces watching him. "We decided to call her," his eyes found Teyla's, "Teylanna Suzanne Keller-McKay."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see nods, smiles and other gestures of approval from Ronon, Woolsey and Sheppard, but he could read nothing from Teyla at all.

He motioned to Teyla with his hand and said hesitantly, "If it's, you know, okay with you."

Teyla stood up and walked towards him, and it wasn't until she was about to wrap her arms around him that he could see the gleam of a tear in the corner of her eye.

"Of course it is okay," she said as she hugged him. "I am very honored. Thank you, Rodney."

He returned her hug and nearly sighed in relief. "You're welcome."

Rodney released Teyla from the hug and shook Woolsey's hand as she stepped over to Jennifer and hugged her as well.

Ronon was next to congratulate him with a grin and a nod, and then Sheppard.

Rodney saw the look of smug satisfaction on Sheppard's face as he shook his hand and immediately went on guard. "What!?!?" he demanded.

John shook his head at first, but after a rather intense glare from Rodney he said, "Teylanna Suzanne Keller-McKay."

"Right," said a wary Rodney. "'Teylanna' after Teyla and 'Suzanne' after Jennifer's mother." Sheppard grinned and Rodney said, "What?!?!?!"

The Colonel's grin only widened. "Suzanne," he repeated.

"So?"

Sheppard's grin turned into a full-fledged smile. "Suzanne…as in Sue?"

Rodney closed his eyes, and when he opened them a moment later all he could say to Sheppard's Cheshire Cat impression was, "Crap."


	4. Fatherhood as Anger Management

I still don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. MGM does.

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John could hear Rodney yelling from thirty feet down the hall, though he couldn't tell what was being said, and it only got louder as he approached the scientist's domain. The Colonel shook his head as the first intelligible words reached his ears.

"…stupid is the only word I can think of, and I'm a genius so I can come up with a few, that describes what you did here this morning!"

John stopped and leaned against the doorframe, folded his arms and took in the sight before him. The only people in the lab were Rodney and a female scientist, a petite brunette that Sheppard didn't recognize, though for some reason the name Annabelle came to mind. At any rate, Rodney was standing in front of the poor woman, his neck red with anger and his hands waving wildly in all directions.

Sheppard sighed quietly at the scene. He'd hoped that Rodney had mellowed a little since the birth of Teylanna, and he had seemed to for the most part. In fact, in the month since Teylanna's birth he couldn't recall Rodney blowing up at anyone about anything.

But there was no doubt that what was happening in the lab now was nothing short of a full-out Rodney McKay special explosion of epic proportions.

"And another thing…"

"Rodney," interrupted Sheppard as he eased himself off the doorway. Rodney whirled around to face him and Sheppard nearly blanched at the look of pure anger on his face. "Sorry to interrupt," he said as he gave the object of Rodney's scorn a nod, "but you were supposed to meet me in the chair room ten minutes ago."

"Well why didn't you call me instead of traipsing all the way up here?" demanded Rodney. "And why aren't you still there? Those tests need to be done and whether you like it or not your gene is still the strongest one in the city, and if that means…"

Sheppard held up his hands and said loudly enough to cut through Rodney's rant, "Whoa there, Rodney. Ease up a little." Sheppard gave Rodney a small grin. "You should know by now that screaming and yelling at people doesn't do anyone any good."

"What do you mean, 'I should know by now'?" demanded Rodney.

Sheppard put his hands on his hips and gave Rodney a warning look. "Listen, Rodney, what I meant was…"

"Oh I see," interrupted Rodney. "You think that because I'm a father now that I would go all soft and easy on people when they screw up. Is that it?"

Sheppard's arms dropped to his sides and he had to once again remind himself that Rodney really couldn't actually read his mind. "Well, not exactly…"

Rodney took a step towards Sheppard and growled, "Well let me tell you this, Colonel, no such luck. My job is to make sure that people around here," he said with a wave around his lab, "don't do anything to get us all killed, among other things, and I will do that job as I see fit!" He pointed towards Sheppard's chest. "Got it?"

Sheppard managed to nod and Rodney added, "Now get back down to the chair room. I'm almost done here."

John sadly shook his head as he turned around and began walking towards the door. As he passed through the door he heard Rodney say to Annabelle, "Now, where were we?"

Sheppard managed to get ten feet away before he realized that Rodney had just pretty much told him off. He turned on his heel and marched back to the lab to return the favor, but when he peered around the doorframe his mouth dropped open in shock.

Rodney was talking quietly to Annabelle and gently patting her shoulder. John continued to watch until Rodney said something and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't tell what his friend had said, but whatever it was it elicited a smile and a nod from Annabelle.

Rodney gave Annabelle another shoulder pat and then said, "Now, let's try that test again," before moving off to one of the many workstations with Annabelle in tow.

Sheppard smiled and quietly stepped away from the door, then turned around and headed to the chair room. He was halfway there when he was met by Zelenka.

"Did you find him, Colonel?" asked the Czech.

Sheppard nodded. "He was chewing out someone for something."

Zelenka muttered something in Czech and shook his head disapprovingly. "I was hoping he would calm down a little after the little one arrived," said Zelenka. "I guess it was wishful thinking."

Sheppard tapped the scientist on the shoulder as he moved past him and said, "I have no idea what you mean, Radek."

Sheppard kept walking, but he knew without looking back that Zelenka was giving him a very strange look indeed.


	5. Do You See What I See?

As usual, I failed to anticipate inspiration and plan this, so I'm forced to go back in time from previous chapters. Sorry if it gets confusing.

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"That's it?!?!"

Rodney peered intently at the monitor and tried once again to see what everyone else was apparently seeing. He waved a little frantically at the monitor as he said, "All I see is a bunch of lines."

"Aye, that's it, Rodney," said Carson as though he'd known Rodney wouldn't be able to see it. Rodney had come into the Infirmary more jittery and bitter than when he'd been suffering withdrawal from the Wraith enzyme. "Just open your eyes and you'll see the wee one with no trouble at all."

Rodney turned a look of scorn on Carson and growled, "My eyes are open, Carson." He turned back to the screen and added, "There's nothing there." He folded his arms across his chest and said, "Tell me again why you're using an ultrasound and not a scanner, which by the way would be much more effective and give me a much clearer image."

Unwilling to go into the lengthy details again, Carson sighed and shook his head in amusement. "You know why, Rodney."

Rodney humphed and looked back at the screen. "I don't see it," he said a moment later, only his voice no longer had the frustrated bitterness in it. His voice had been small, as though despite his best efforts and deep desire to see the first image of his and Jennifer's child, he just couldn't.

"Did you see that little bit of movement that time, Rodney?" asked Carson in his best soothing doctor voice. He pointed to the monitor and said, "There! See it that time?"

Rodney concentrated hard on the screen, but all he could see were wavy lines that didn't amount to any recognizable shapes. "I…I just can't see it." He shook his head and mumbled softly, "I'll just…I'll just get out of the way and let you…"

He stopped when Jennifer put her hand on his, and at her prodding he let her fingers slip in between his and interlock with them.

He turned his attention to her, which he realized with an inward grimace that that's where it should have been anyway, and found her giving him a sympathetic smile.

"It's okay if you can't see it, Rodney," she said softly, understanding and compassion for his plight in her voice. "It's not easy to see shapes and movements unless you're used to looking at the images," she shot Carson an admonishing look and added, "like we are."

Jennifer looked down to the foot of her bed where Nancy was standing. "Nancy, could you move the monitor up here to where I can reach it please?"

"Certainly, Doctor," replied the nurse as she moved to fulfill her boss' request.

When she could reach the monitor, Jennifer smiled appreciatively at her nurse and released Rodney's hand. After turning the monitor so that Rodney could see it, she took his hand again and raised it towards the screen, letting his fingers gently graze along the luminescent surface.

Rodney watched his fingers trace along the lines on the screen over and over again, and suddenly his eyes opened wide and his heart began beating wildly in his chest.

"A leg!" he exclaimed excitedly, and he looked down to Jennifer's face and was rewarded with a beautiful smile and confirming nod.

His eyes shot back to the monitor and he became enthralled with a new set of lines that Jennifer had his fingers tracing. After a few times going around the lines he said, "An arm?"

"Yes," replied Jennifer proudly.

She kept his fingers moving about the screen.

""That's a head!" Rodney nearly shouted as Jennifer moved his fingers around another set of lines. "That's definitely a head! I can see a nose and… and a chin!"

"I think he's got it," quipped Carson, who was largely ignored by Rodney and Jennifer.

Jennifer kept her hand on his, but she was no longer guiding him as his fingers traced another line.

"Stomach?" asked Rodney as he looked at Jennifer.

She nodded again and gave his hand a loving squeeze.

"It's…that's amazing!" Rodney said with subdued excitement.

Carson smiled at his friends and pressed a button on the ultrasound, and a moment later a nearby tablet beeped indicating that it had received a download.

"Right, Rodney," said Carson after he gave the parents-to-be a few moments, "it's time for you to get out and let Jennifer get dressed." He put the ultrasound paddle down and retrieved a handful of tissues and wiped the excess jelly from Jennifer's very round tummy, then said, "The tablet on the desk by the door has some pictures for you two to show off."

Rodney spared Carson the barest of glances before looking at Jennifer again. "I'll wait for you outside?"

"I thought you had to get back to the lab," she teased.

Rodney shrugged. "It can wait."

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, then straightened up and headed for the door, grabbing the tablet off the desk as he did so.

When he made his way to the main entrance, he found his teammates- his friends- waiting.

Without saying anything he showed them the tablet and brought up the picture of the ultrasound image that Jennifer had used to help him see his child.

Ronon was the first to speak, and naturally it was a continuation of the good-natured ribbing that Ronon had started when he first found out that Rodney and Jennifer were going to have a baby. "I guess you really did it, McKay."

Teyla smiled at the running joke and said, "The baby looks very healthy, Rodney."

Rodney nodded and turned to Sheppard and said, "What?" when he saw a frown on the Colonel's face.

Sheppard shrugged and said, "I don't see it."

Rodney sighed and said, "Open your eyes, Sheppard. Open your eyes."


	6. Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommy's out there.

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Jennifer cracked one eye open, and through the haze of sleep that still called she glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

The luminescent red numbers read 7:45.

She sighed contentedly and snuggled her face into her pillow. Jennifer could feel her conscious mind being overcome by the sandman, and she did not resist. In fact she relished the fact that since her thirty-fifth week of pregnancy she'd been able to sleep in until eight thirty.

At least that had been the way of things until Teylanna had been born. Then she'd be awake like clockwork every couple of hours…

Jennifer's eyes shot open and she looked at the clock again to verify that she'd been asleep for almost nine straight hours, then tried to quell the panic that had taken up siege around her heart.

She sat up in the bed and reached over to wake Rodney, but his side of the bed was empty. The panic intensified at Rodney's absence. What if he'd been called away overnight to deal with some emergency and Teylanna had…

Jennifer jumped out of bed and fought back the terror induced tears in her eyes. The occupational hazard of automatically thinking the worst asserted itself and her medically trained mind ran over the worst case scenario: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

She walked swiftly to the always opened bedroom door, her loose fitting night gown billowing behind her, and all but ran through it and into Teylanna's room, which was adjacent to hers.

The sight that greeted her took her breath away, for more than one reason. First, seeing that her daughter was fine released the vise that had been crushing her heart to the point where it swelled in her chest, allowing no room for her lungs to function properly. She knew it wasn't possible, of course, but that was just the way it felt.

And second, seeing the man to whom she'd decided to give her life gently rocking their little girl in his arms was breathtaking in itself. She willed her heart to stop racing as she watched Rodney slowly rock back and forth in the rocking chair that Woolsey had given them as a present for Teylanna.

Rodney had the little girl in his arms, cuddled up in the blanket that Jeannie had sent that had been embroidered with as many math and physics equations that she could fit on it, with his head tilted downwards so that he could watch her. The look of pure love on Rodney's face warmed Jennifer to the core. And to think that a year ago she'd been worried sick about how he'd take the news about being a father.

Jennifer quietly tiptoed towards Rodney and Teylanna as to not wake the slumbering infant. She'd caught Rodney unawares as well it seemed, for he started when Jennifer placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," whispered Jennifer as she knelt down next to the rocking chair. She gazed upon her daughter and gently ran her index finer along Teylanna's hand and smiled lovingly when the little fingers wiggled in response. She turned to look at Rodney. "When I realized I'd slept through the night I was worried that something was wrong."

A look of regret flashed across Rodney's face. "I'm sorry…I just got up with her so that you could..." He shook his head and then added, "Happy Mother's Day."

Jennifer's left hand slipped behind Rodney's head and she gently pulled him towards her enough so that she could kiss him. "Thank you," she said when she'd pulled away from him.

"You're welcome," replied Rodney as he motioned with his head towards the kitchen. "Because I burned the toast, ruined the eggs and forgot to turn on the coffee pot. So much for breakfast in bed for Mommy. Not much of a gift."

Jennifer smiled as she gently raked her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. "All the gift I need is right here, Rodney." She rested her head against his shoulder and looked down just in time to watch two big, beautiful and blue eyes open to look at her. "Thank you."


	7. Not THE Call, But the Call

I have no idea where this one came from.

I'm sorry.

Rating on this one has forced me to up the rating on the fic in general.

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Rodney rushed through the corridor with a speed that belied his reputation as being physically unfit. People were forced to quickly step aside, and in at least one case literally dive out of the way, lest they be trampled by Atlantis' resident genius and soon to be father.

Rodney didn't see any of them. His body, as well his mind, went into tunnel vision on Jennifer the second her voice came over his comm. unit. She asked him to come to their quarters as soon as he was able to, and though she didn't say that anything was wrong, there was something in her voice that told him to drop whatever he was doing and go to her immediately.

Which is exactly what he did, much to the chagrin of the three or four people who had been in close proximity to him when he haphazardly threw a highly unstable, and very explosive, material to Zelenka and then bolted for the door.

His heart hit light speed as the door to his quarters came into view and his pace accelerated into a dead run until he reached the door. He slammed his hand over the sensor and rushed through the door before it had even finished opening as he yelled, "Jennifer! Jennifer what's wrong?"

He stopped in the middle of the living room and scanned the room with darting eyes until Jennifer walked through the door of their bedroom.

"Are you all right?" he asked as she kept walking towards him. "You didn't say that something was wrong but you didn't sound like yourse…"

His babbling ended when Jennifer's lips gave his mouth something better to do in the form of a particularly deep kiss. It was so unexpected and he was so surprised that his eyes took several seconds to go from saucer sized to closed, although his mouth had automatically responded.

His hands moved up to her shoulders and he gently, and with some reluctance, pushed her back enough so that she was forced to stop kissing him and look at him.

"Jennifer," he said slowly and slightly out of breath. "What's going on? What're you doing?"

Jennifer reached over and unzipped his uniform jacket before he could even think about trying to stop her. "I would think that that would obvious, Rodney," she replied with a sneaky grin. Before he could respond she reached up and pushed the jacket down over his arms, leaving it abandoned on the floor. He was still formulating a response when she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and began tugging it up over his stomach.

The shirt was on the floor and he was feeling the chill against his chest and back before his mind kicked into overdrive. Rodney reached down and just managed to stop Jennifer's hands from undoing his belt.

"Jennifer," he said with exasperation in his voice, "you're eight months pregnant!"

Jennifer stopped trying to fight past his hands to his belt and looked up into Rodney's eyes. "I think it's safe to say," she said with smirk, "that no one knows that better than I do."

"But Jennifer…"

"I've had a very normal pregnancy, Rodney," she said as she leaned in as close to him as her burgeoning stomach would allow. She placed her hand lovingly on his cheek and added, "And there's no reason that we can't do that. It won't hurt me and it won't hurt the baby." She smiled and caressed his cheek. "I promise."

"But…I thought that women didn't want…that they lost their…," Rodney gulped and looked to her for help.

Which she provided with a patient smile. "Some women can lose their drive towards the end of their pregnancy," she said in her best doctor's voice, "but not always." She sighed and slid her hand down his cheek, along his jaw and onto his shoulder. "But if you're not comfortable…"

"It won't hurt the baby?" he asked as he reached over and placed his hands on her waist.

Jennifer shook her head leaned in towards him, saying just before her lips touched his, "I promise."


	8. Teyla's Respect

MGM still owns it…not me.

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"So you're really going to go into the delivery room?" asked Sheppard as he and Rodney entered the Jumper bay.

"Of course I'm going into the delivery room!" responded Rodney with a roll of his eyes. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," began Sheppard as he held up one finger, "there's the whole you can't stand to be in or see people in pain," a second finger went up, "Jennifer's probably going to hurt you," a third finger went up, "and you'll probably faint after a few minutes." Sheppard lowered his hand and when he reached Jumper Three he turned around and said, "So I figure…that…Rodney?"

Sheppard glanced around the bay to find that McKay had vanished. "Rodney?" Sheppard swore under his breath and was about to go and look for Rodney when the latter stomped up behind him and nearly made Sheppard jump out of his combat boots.

"Now, Sheppard," declared Rodney as he passed by the flustered Colonel, "why wouldn't I go into the delivery room?"

"Where the hell did you go?" asked Sheppard as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Rodney spared Sheppard the barest of glances before opening the power conduit in the rear of Jumper Three. "I went around the front to make sure that Zelenka retracted the flight pods. Why?" Before Sheppard could answer Rodney paused in his work and glared at Sheppard. "Why are you here anyway? Really, don't you have more important things to do today than bug me while I'm trying to fix this thing?"

Sheppard shook his head and said, "You asked to come here, Rodney. Something about needing me to power up the Jumper to see which systems..."

"Then get up there and power up the nav system," Rodney ordered as he started working again. "Jennifer is in the Infirmary and could go into labor anytime so I only have…"

Rodney stopped and mumbled something that sounded to Sheppard to be very profane and tapped his comm. unit. "What?!?!" Rodney braced himself against the Jumper's hull as he listened. "I'm on my way."

Rodney slammed the power conduit shut and was out the door before Sheppard could even ask. He ran to the hatch and yelled, "Rodney!"

"Jennifer's gone into labor!" the scientist yelled without breaking his stride.

Sheppard watched his friend disappear and said with a smile that no one saw, "Good luck, Rodney."

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Sheppard looked at his watch and barely suppressed the sigh that wanted very badly to leave his mouth. After Rodney had gotten the call that told him Jennifer had gone into labor, John had rounded up Teyla and Ronon and then headed to the Infirmary to wait for the little one's arrival.

That had been five hours ago.

He leaned back in the uncomfortable chair he'd volunteered to sit in and folded his arms across his chest. "It occurs to me that this has to be one of the reasons that women hate men."

From the comfort of a well-padded chair, Teyla glanced at Ronon before saying, "I do not understand, John."

Sheppard closed his eyes and said, "Jennifer has been pregnant for nine months, and has now gone through," he cracked an eye open to check his watch again, "five hours of painful labor." He opened his eyes and looked at Teyla. "That's gotta be some pretty hefty incentive to hate us."

Teyla smiled though she said nothing, much to John's surprise and curiosity. He was about to push her about it when Ronon, who had claimed the other comfortable chair, said, "I can't believe he went in there."

John nodded in agreement. "I can't either." John let loose a grunt of laughter before saying, "Just last month he nearly fainted…"

"Passed out," interrupted Ronon with a grin.

"…passed out," corrected Sheppard with a devilish smile, "when we watched 'Alien', even though we've watched it before."

"What about last week on that planet," said Ronon, "the one with the rivers and he nearly fainted…"

"Passed out," corrected Sheppard with a sly smile.

"…passed out," said Ronon without skipping a beat, "when…"

"I can not believe the two of you," interrupted Teyla in a firm and disappointed voice. She edged forward in her chair so that she was sitting on the edge, giving her the appearance of a predator that was quite ready to pounce on whoever had the gall to speak next. She looked back and forth between Sheppard and Ronon as she said, "Rodney is your friend. He has shown his bravery and fortitude on numerous occasions and I **will not** sit here and allow you to talk about him in that way." Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward an inch…a threatening inch. "And let us not forget that Rodney was my only companion during Torren's birth aboard Michael's ship. If it were not for his presence and strength I doubt that Torren and I would be here now."

Teyla waited for a moment to ensure that she had made her point, and then sat back in her chair. She kept her eyes moving between Sheppard and Ronon, all but daring them to say another disparaging word about Rodney.

Sheppard cleared his throat, and in a tone of voice that told Teyla that he'd been properly chastised he said, "I knew he was going to be able to do it."

After a quick glance at Teyla out of the corner of his eye, Ronon nodded and said in all honesty, "Me too."


	9. Girl or Boy?

Still don't own it.

A million thanks to everyone who have left reviews. I lost track of which ones I responded to, so if I left you out I'm sorry and thanks again.

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"So what would you rather have?" asked Sheppard as he sat down at the table.

Rodney looked up from the gizmo he'd been working on and gave the Colonel a glare that would've sent anyone on his staff, with the sole exception of Zelenka, running away from him begging to see their mother.

Unfortunately, Sheppard was just as immune as Zelenka.

Rodney stared at his friend as several possible answers went through his mind to answer the frivolous and ambiguous question. He'd rather have some peace and quiet, as opposed to Sheppard's interruption; he'd rather have a fresh cup of coffee, as opposed to the cold and thick tar-like stuff that was currently occupying his mug; and he would most certainly rather be babying Jennifer, as opposed to trying to repair the end result of someone else's stupidity.

In the end he couldn't decide which answer appealed to him the most, so he decided to go for a little clarification. "What?"

"Boy or girl," said Sheppard with a roll of his eyes as though he figured Rodney should have known exactly what it was he was talking about. "Would you rather have a boy or a girl?"

Rodney leaned back in his chair and gave Sheppard a wide-eyed look. "I haven't thought about it," he replied honestly. He really hadn't given any thought at all to a preference of gender. Carson had told him and Jennifer that the baby was healthy with a strong heartbeat, and that was all that mattered.

"You haven't thought about it?" replied the incredulous Colonel. "Rodney, you think about everything from ZPMs, sun block, Wraith and who knows what else." John regarded Rodney for a second and then leaned in over the table. "You really haven't thought about it, have you?"

"No," replied Rodney in a voice so small that he wasn't even sure it was him that had spoken. He cleared his throat and tried again. "No, I haven't." He leaned back in over the machine he'd been fixing and said, "All that matters is that he or she is healthy."

"Interesting," drawled Sheppard with a smirk.

Rodney looked up. "What do you mean by that?"

The right side of Sheppard's mouth moved upward into a smirk. "It's interesting that you said 'he' first and 'she' second."

"Oh come on," whined Rodney. "One of them had to go first, and it doesn't mean anything."

The two men stared at each other until Sheppard leaned back in his chair. After a moment he smiled and said, "You really don't care either way?"

Rodney sat still and thought for a moment. Would it really matter if he had a son or a daughter? Would he love one more than the other? Was one going to be capable of more based solely on sex? Could he teach more to a son than a daughter, and vice versa? Would it really matter to him?

Rodney shook his head slowly and said, "No, I don't care."

Sheppard nodded as though he were pleased with that response. "I'm proud of you, Rodney. It's a very good thing that you feel that way." Sheppard smirked as he added jokingly, "You might make an okay dad after all."

Rodney gave Sheppard a grunt of amusement. "Thanks, Sheppard."

John gave Rodney an exaggerated nod before standing up. He started to turn away from Rodney but stopped and faced him again. "It is interesting though," he said with a thoughtful look upon his face. "I sort of figured you'd say a boy."

Rodney felt his face crunch up in confusion. "Why?"

Sheppard smiled as he said, "With your luck, you'll end up with a daughter as beautiful as Jennifer and you'll spend her teenage years trying to figure out how to keep horny, adolescent boys away from her."

Rodney's face fell like a stone as his friend regarded him with a look of delighted amusement on his face. He shook his head and looked at Sheppard with as much disdain as he could muster. "I hate you."


	10. The Arrival

Still don't own it. Never will.

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Rodney McKay sat in the waiting room adjacent to the delivery room that Jennifer and Carson had set up in the Infirmary and tried not to stand up and pace across the floor. After getting dressed in a set of hospital greens he'd taken to the seat and leaned forward so that he could rest his elbows on his knees and look at the floor. Not that the floor was interesting by any means, but the neutral color calmed him for reasons that he couldn't even begin to pinpoint.

It had been twenty minutes earlier while walking into the Jumper bay with Sheppard that he'd gotten the call. No, not the call…he'd gotten THE call. Jennifer had gone into labor and had been rushed into the delivery room. Not for the first time in his life, he'd silently thanked Carson for his insight, the former CMO having confined Jennifer to the Infirmary just the day before as a precaution and much to Jennifer's consternation.

He looked up as someone rushed past the door leading into the delivery room, and then returned his attention back to the floor.

His mind wandered to the task at hand, or more specifically his part in it. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen a baby being born. He'd been there with Teyla when she gave birth to her son, and though he didn't do a whole lot, he was proud of himself for not freaking out entirely and messing the whole thing up.

And he was supposed to do even less for Jennifer. All he was supposed to do was go in, hold her hand, rub her back, give her encouragement and remind her to breath.

But it was Jennifer.

It was bad enough witnessing Teyla go through the pain she'd experienced during Torren's birth, seeing the strong and noble woman he'd come to know and care about like a sister scream so loudly as a full term baby was pushed out of her body. He'd never forget those screams of agony and the tears that fell from her eyes, even if they did turn into tears of joy.

He wasn't sure that he could see and hear something like that from the woman he loved so much. She'd already gone through so much for him and because of him, so much that he wasn't sure why she even tried.

And now, after having endured a certain amount of ostracization because of her being with him, after having to defend his rudeness on a number of occasions, after suffering through his inexperience with relationships, she'd had to put up with nine months of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth.

And she'd done it all without so much as a complaint, without so much as a single frown or comment. She'd given him so much.

"Rodney?"

Rodney looked up to see Carson, decked out in standard green scrubs complete with hat and a mask that was hanging down just below his chin, in the doorway watching him with grave concern. He bolted up out of the chair and descended upon Carson as though the doctor knew the meaning of life.

Before he could even ask how Jennifer was doing, his Scottish friend smiled and laid a reassuring hand upon his shoulder. "Jennifer's fine, and so is the wee one." Carson gave Rodney a pat on the shoulder. "Things are moving along quickly, Rodney." Carson chuckled as he added, "The way things are going she may have already delivered before we get back in there. Are you ready?"

Rodney stared at Carson and struggled to find the words to answer him. Finally Rodney just nodded and Carson turned to walk back into the delivery room. Rodney took deep breath and followed his friend.

He didn't notice anything in the room, didn't see any people or any equipment- he only had eyes for Jennifer. She was on a bed in a semi-reclined position with a green blanket covering her from toe to the top of her pregnant belly, which was rapidly bobbing up and down because of her quick and shallow breaths; a line of clear tubing ran from the IV in her right hand to a nearby pump; all sorts of wires snaked their way up from underneath her gown and made their way to various monitors; her hair rested on the pillow about her head and, despite the pain he knew her to be in she managed a full smile when she turned and saw him.

Her eyes closed tight and her smile disappeared in a grimace due to pain he thanked his maker he would never have to experience, and the sight of her in such a condition froze him to his spot.

His paralysis lasted only a second as the small moan that escaped her lips was enough rouse him. He quickly moved to her and took her hand in his, relieved and worried at the same time by the strength she gripped him with. He gently moved the hair that had been matted to her forehead off to one side with his free hand and received a grateful smile from Jennifer.

A masked woman appeared from out of nowhere and handed him a cloth, and by the big brown eyes situated above the top edge of her mask and the crop of straight, honey brown hair sticking out from underneath her surgical hat, Rodney recognized her as being one of Jennifer's most trusted nurses. He held the cloth out in front of him as though it was some sort of alien technology that he had no idea how to handle until the nurse, Sandy he remembered, motioned to her own head and then to Jennifer. Rodney looked to the cloth, then to Jennifer's glistening forehead and realization hit him.

"I'm so sorry," Rodney said as he wiped the sweat from Jennifer's brow with the cloth Sandy had given him.

"Why?" asked Jennifer breathlessly.

"For this," he replied instantly. "You shouldn't have to go through…"

"Stop," Jennifer said with a particularly sharp puff of breath. "Don't you dare…apologize for this." She stopped and closed her eyes as a contraction came upon her, and when it passed she looked at him and went on as though nothing had happened. "We're having a baby," she said, and even in such discomfort she managed a smile that almost made Rodney forget where they were and what was happening. "That's…that's the most beautiful thing in the world...not a reason to apologize."

Rodney gently dabbed more beads of perspiration from Jennifer's forehead and looked into her eyes. He managed to smile at her and he joked, "No turning back now, right?"

"No," she said with a sharp breath of laughter.

Rodney was about to comment on them being stuck with each other when Carson appeared at the bottom of the bed. "Alright, love. How are you doing?"

"She's in labor you voodoo witchdoctor!" complained Rodney with a withering look thrown at Carson for good measure. "How do you think she's doing?"

Carson gave Jennifer a knowing look and said as he glanced to the monitors, "It's nice to see that **you're** still your usual happy self, Rodney." Before Rodney could respond Carson turned back to Jennifer and said, "I need to take a look, love."

Jennifer nodded and Carson lifted the bottom edge of the blanket up and let it rest on top of her knees.

Rodney turned his attention to Jennifer and gave her hand a supportive squeeze, then nearly doubled over in pain as Jennifer's hand tightened around his so tight that it would have made an anaconda proud.

He was about to complain, and rather loudly, when Carson peeked up over the edge of the blanket and announced, "All right then…it's time."

Suddenly Rodney could hear a pounding sound in his ears, and it took second for him to realize that the object making the sound in question was his own heart.

_Okay, Rodney,_ he said to himself as his eyes found Jennifer's. _Jennifer has to do all the work. The least you can do is stay conscious and help her._ _You can do this._

And suddenly time slowed to a crawl for him, his vision becoming slightly blurred and his hearing becoming dragged out. He could hear Carson speak, though the words were slurred to the point where he just couldn't understand what the doctor was saying. He was aware that Jennifer still held his hand, and he could still feel her grip tighten and release, though he couldn't be sure how much time went between the tightening and the releasing. There were sounds, oddly familiar yet strikingly odd sounds trying to penetrate the fog in his ears, and it took one particularly loud noise, accompanied by a very painful squeeze of his hand and the vision of Jennifer leaning forward to realize that those noises were her screams.

Rodney's vision cleared and he edged in to place his right hand on her back to help support her as she leaned forward, and when she fell back he found the cloth he'd discarded on the edge of the bed and used it to once again clear her forehead of perspiration.

The respite didn't last long. He heard Carson's voice again and Jennifer squeezed his hand as she once again leaned forward and growled in pain and determination.

Finally Jennifer fell back onto the bed and he could see a small smile play on her lips as she looked down her body. Rodney followed her gaze and time snapped back to normal as the high pitched wail of his newborn child shattered the fog that had enveloped him.

He looked on in complete awe as Carson looked up to him and then to Jennifer. "Congratulations you two," he said with pride and joy permeating his Scottish brogue. "She's a beauty."

Rodney's eyes bulged open and he turned towards Jennifer, whose smile had gotten so wide that he was certain he'd never seen her truly smile before. And when she turned towards him and fixed her beautiful smile upon him he couldn't help but smile as well.

"A girl," he said softly, more than a little overcome by everything. He reached over and used the thumb of his free hand to gently wipe away the tear that had slipped from Jennifer's eye and was winding its way down her cheek. "A girl."

"A girl," Jennifer repeated with a happy sob. "Our daughter."

"Aye, and here she is," announced Carson as he stepped up to stand at the other side of the bed.

Rodney regarded the light pink bundle that Carson cradled protectively in his arms and gulped down the lump that had formed in his throat. He released Jennifer's hand and his eyes followed the bundle as Carson leaned down to gently lay it in Jennifer's waiting arms.

"Hi there," Jennifer said softly and with the sound of happy tears in her voice. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

Rodney watched the infant in Jennifer's arms, and was amazed that the little one actually seemed to be soothed by Jennifer's voice, as though she were already familiar with her mother's voice.

Jennifer looked up to Rodney, and then shifted on the bed so he could get a better look at his daughter. "Say hi to Daddy," Jennifer whispered to the little one. The infant made a sound and Rodney reached down and caressed her cheek.

"She's…she's beautiful," Rodney whispered.

"Aye," replied Carson. "She turns after her mother, thank God."

Rodney shot Carson a dirty look and noticed Sandy approach Carson and then whisper something into his ear.

Carson nodded at the nurse and said, "Alright, Rodney. Sandy here is going to take the wee one so she can be weighed and cleaned up a bit, and we still have some work to do here."

Rodney opened his mouth to argue but Carson cut him off by saying, "The sooner we finish the sooner the three of you can be together."

Rodney thought about asking for some more time, but relented. Sandy leaned in and took the baby from Jennifer's arms and looked at him. "Would you like to come with us, Dr. McKay?"

Rodney looked down to Jennifer and received a smile and a nod.

Rodney looked back up to the nurse and said, "I'll be there in a minute." Sandy nodded and Rodney looked back to Jennifer. "I…I don't know," he sighed and took her hand in both of his as he tried again. "I don't know what to say. You were great, but then you're great all the time." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, leaving his lips on her skin as he said, "I love you."

"I love you, too," she responded instantly and with the warmth of a supernova.

Carson waited a few moments before saying, "All right, Rodney. Go keep an eye on your little girl while we take care of Jennifer."

Rodney moved his lips down to Jennifer's and kissed her mouth as lovingly as he knew how, then straightened up and looked at Carson. "Carson," he said abruptly, and he hesitated as he regained control over his voice. "Thank you, Carson."

"You're welcome," the Scot said with a warm smile. "Now go on."

Rodney gave Jennifer's hand a squeeze before releasing it and following Sandy into the next room. Before he knew it two other nurses and one of Jennifer's doctors appeared out of thin air and began hovering over the infant.

He jumped towards them when the baby started to wail, but Sandy turned and put her hands on his shoulders to keep him still. "She's alright, Dr. McKay," Sandy said in a soothing voice that reminded him of Jennifer's. She lowered the mask she'd been wearing so that he could see the sincerity on her face, then stepped to his side and turned so that they were both looking at the child. "We're only weighing her and measuring her length. Then Dr. Thompkins," she added with a point towards one of the new people in the room, "will examine her to make certain that she's healthy."

Fear gripped him. "Make certain she's healthy? Why? Is there some reason to believe she's not healthy? What if…?"

"No, Doctor," interrupted Sandy forcefully. "There is absolutely no reason to believe anything is wrong with her, but we have to make sure."

Rodney nodded and relaxed.

A little.

Sandy glanced over the other nurse's shoulder. "Seven pounds and fourteen ounces," she reported. "That's a good weight." After a minute of silence Sandy commented with a warm smile, "She's a beautiful little girl."

Rodney turned to look at the nurse. "Yes," he finally replied a moment later. "She's very beautiful."

Sandy smiled at him and said, "Would you like to hold her now?"

"What?"

Sandy nodded to the area in front of him and said, "We're all done. Would you like to hold her now?"

Rodney looked in the direction Sandy had indicated to find one of the other nurses standing before him with his daughter, dressed and neatly wrapped in another pink blanket, in her arms.

"I don't…I mean I'm not sure…you see the last time I held a baby…" Rodney stopped and his shoulders sagged dejectedly.

"Have a seat, Doctor," Sandy said as she gently maneuvered him backwards towards a large chair in the corner. When he was seated she asked, "So you have held a baby before?"

Rodney nodded as the nurse holding his baby approached him. "But it didn't…it wasn't a positive experience."

Sandy laughed and said, "Believe me when I say that it's a different ballgame when it's your own child, Dr. McKay. But you know how to hold a baby, right?"

He nodded as the other nurse leaned down to place the child in his arms. "Jennifer showed me how."

Before he could say anything else he was looking down into the face he had helped to create as his daughter rested in his arms.

Sandy knelt down and smiled. "See? You're a natural." She stood up, looked to the other nurse and motioned towards one of the doors with her head. "We'll give you some time alone with your daughter," she said after turning back to Rodney. "Dr. Keller will soon be ready to see you and your daughter." She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "We'll be right outside if you need us."

Rodney tore his gaze away from the slumbering child in his arms and looked up to Sandy. He opened his mouth to say something but ended up simply nodding his head. Sandy smiled and walked towards the door, and a moment later he was alone with his daughter.

Rodney looked down and his eyes widened when he saw that the little girl's eyes were wide open and she was looking at him.

Rodney focused on her bright blue eyes and nodded at her. "Hi. My name is Rod…" He stopped and smiled at the little girl as she cooed at him. "Hey there. I'm your daddy."

The little one cooed at him again and Rodney felt a bubble of something warm burst in his chest, something he'd never felt before. It wasn't until she wiggled in his arms and cooed at him again that Rodney realized it was love that he felt, the type of love that he'd been completely ignorant of before his daughter had been born.

"I'm your daddy," Rodney repeated in a whisper. "I'll warn you now, I may not be the best daddy you could have and some, okay a lot, of people think I'm hard to get along with." _Did she just smile at me?_ "How about we make a deal? I promise you that I'll do my best to be the best daddy ever, and between you and me my best is usually enough, and you promise me that you'll do your best to be patient with me."

There was a knock on the door and Rodney turned towards it just in time to see it open and Sandy poke her head in enough to see him. "You can come and see Dr. Keller now, Dr. McKay." She opened the door all the way and stepped inside. "Do you need some help getting up?"

"I…no," he said softly, after having to quash his initial instinct to take Sandy up on her offer. "I need to learn how to do this by myself, right?"

Sandy smiled and nodded her head. "I would imagine you would, yes."

Rodney edged forward in the chair and he took a deep breath before commanding his legs to lift him upwards. They obeyed without question, and a moment later he was standing with his baby in his arms. "I did it!" he exclaimed in a loud whisper. "I did it!"

"Of course you did, Doctor," she replied. There was no sarcasm in her voice, no indication that she thought he was silly, just a simple tenor that said she never doubted it for a second. "I told you that you're a natural."

Rodney gave Sandy a look of thanks and then held onto the child securely yet tenderly as he walked through the door and headed towards Jennifer.

As he neared Jennifer he could see that she was pale and beyond exhausted, and even though her hair was a mess and her eyes were duller than usual, he had never seen her look so beautiful. She smiled as he stepped next to her side and he gazed upon the woman he loved with admiration, affection and awe.

"Hey," she said tiredly.

"Hey," he replied softly. "Are you okay?"

She smiled at his question, not because she thought it was a ludicrous question to ask someone who had just given birth, but because she adored the concern in his voice and wanted to do whatever she could to reassure him that she was fine. "I've never felt better."

Rodney didn't believe her for a second, but decided not to push her. "I have someone here who would like to see her mommy," he said as he looked at their daughter. He looked back to Jennifer and asked, "Do you feel well enough to hold her?"

"Just try and stop me," Jennifer answered swiftly as she shimmied into more of a sitting position, and when she nodded to Rodney he placed their daughter in her arms. "She's beautiful," Jennifer said proudly. She moved her right hand up and gently rubbed the little one's chin with her finger. "I can't believe she's so alert already."

"Well she has two geniuses for parents," said Rodney as he reached down and kissed Jennifer's forehead. As he straightened up he added, "She's got a pretty good chance of being smart too."

Jennifer smiled at the baby and said in a playful baby-like voice, "But it doesn't matter. No it doesn't. Because we're going to love you anyway. Yes we are."

Rodney smiled and nodded when Jennifer looked up to him. "Yes we are."


	11. The Boy I'm Going to Marry

Skipped ahead a bit in this one. Still don't own Stargate Atlantis or its characters.

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Rodney placed a small glass of milk on his tray and started heading towards what had become 'their' table. Jennifer and Teylanna would almost be finished their breakfast by now, another emergency in the lab having kept him from joining them as he always did.

When he finally reached their table he sat down next to five year old Teylanna and carefully placed his breakfast tray on the table. He leaned over and kissed his daughter on top of her blond head, then looked across the table and saw that Jennifer was amused about something, and from the small smile that graced her perfect lips and the way she was looking from him to Teylanna, he knew it boded ill for him.

"What?" he demanded with a mixture of dread and resignation.

Jennifer seemed to focus on him and said a little too quickly, "Nothing." She looked down to Teylanna's tray and then to her daughter and said in her motherly voice, "Eat your eggs, please."

Rodney glanced over to the little girl next to him, and after she shoveled a particularly large spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth he leaned down closer to her and whispered loud enough for Jennifer to hear, "Do you know why Mommy is so happy?"

Two small yet brilliant blue eyes looked up at him. "No, Daddy."

Rodney sighed and looked back to Jennifer, whose shoulders were now bobbing up and down in barely contained laughter.

Rodney's shoulders slumped down and he said, "Okay look, something is up and I want to know what."

Jennifer smiled as she lifted her own glass of milk up to her lips, and her eyes danced as they looked at him over its edge. She placed the glass on the table and noticed that Teylanna had finally finished her breakfast.

Jennifer dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin and cleared her throat. "Teylanna, honey, why don't you tell your father what you told me a few minutes ago."

Rodney took a bite of his toast and turned to look at his little girl as she jumped up and down in her chair excitedly. "Daddy, Daddy!" she exclaimed loudly. "I know who I'm going to marry!"

The toast that he had been trying to swallow became stuck in his throat, and he wasn't sure if that was why his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets or the fact that his five year old daughter had just said she was going to get married.

It didn't help that the woman he loved, who just so happened to be a doctor, simply sat there and looked at him with a huge grin on her face as he started to choke. He reached down and grabbed his milk in his hand and managed to bring it up to his lips without spilling any, and then took in enough to wash the dastardly piece of toast the rest of the way down to his stomach.

"Really?" he managed to say without letting any of the shock, panic and confusion he was feeling into his voice. As he brought the glass back up to his mouth he asked, "And who would that be?"

He knew it had been a mistake to ask the question as soon as he saw Jennifer's eyes light up with laughter. What he didn't realize was that it had been an even bigger mistake to ask that question and then take a big gulp of drink, for when she proudly exclaimed, "Uncle John!" the milk that had barely started to roll past his tonsils immediately evacuated his mouth in a fine spray out onto the table.

"What?" he demanded as he turned towards Teylanna, completely ignorant of the trail of milk winding its way down his chin.

Teylanna smiled at him and repeated, "Uncle John."

Rodney's mouth opened and closed several times without making a sound. Before he knew it, Teylanna was skipping her way through the Mess and Jennifer, her amusement having turned to compassion and concern, was standing next to him with her hand suddenly rubbing his shoulder.

"She's five, Rodney," she said with a smile. She reached down to the table and picked up a napkin, then dutifully wiped the milk from his chin. "It doesn't mean anything." He managed to nod and Jennifer leaned down and kissed his temple. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but if you need someone to talk to, my door is always open." She leaned down another few inches and placed a sweet kiss upon his lips. "I'll see you at lunch. I love you."

"Love you, too," Rodney managed to mumble, and nearly cringed when Jennifer softly laughed at him.

It was nearly ten minutes before he had the stomach to look at his breakfast again, and even then he **so** didn't have the stomach for it.


	12. Crap!

Still don't own it…damn it.

To the few of you keeping up with this- and you know who you are- sorry for the wait. Real life and my muse have been conspiring against me. Hopefully they'll both ease up on me for a while.

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It had been a long time since Rodney had truly feared for his life. Four months as a matter of fact, and while four months wasn't really a long time in the grand scheme of things, it was certainly a long time when talking about mortal fear and the Pegasus Galaxy.

It had been four months since he, along with Teyla, Ronon and Sheppard, had had a far too close encounter with a particularly nasty and spiteful Wraith Queen. The scars on Ronon's chest still hadn't so much as faded a little bit.

He'd thought they were going to die that day, or the day after, or as soon as the Queen became hungry again. At least, that was where his thoughts had been after the usual hysteria brought on by the realization that doom was around the corner had eased enough for rational thought. It hadn't been until the hive had been attacked while they were being moved from one cell to another that they'd gotten their chance to escape. A ride for him, Teyla and Ronon as energy patterns in a Dart's storage system and they were free.

At any rate, that was the last time he'd felt mortal fear.

At least it had been until a few moments ago when his beautiful little girl, all of three and a half years old, looked at him after he'd stubbed his toe and said aloud with a crystal clear voice what he'd been saying in his mind.

"CRAP!"

Rodney stopped hopping around on his uninjured foot and stared in disbelief at his little angel. Her blue eyes were narrowed as though she had been the one to sustain the injury; her lips were pressed into a thin line that turned downward at the edges into a typical McKay scowl; and her tiny arms were crossed across her chest. In fact, the only feature of his daughter that remained of the angel he knew her to be was her shoulder length golden hair that, despite the scowl, twisted lips and crossed arms, still framed her head and face and managed to give her an angelic glow.

Jennifer was going to kill him.

Rodney gingerly lowered his foot to the floor and, sparing the slightest of thoughts to the throb in his toe and one more internal curse towards the chair that had hurt him, he knelt down in front of little Teylanna and tried to quell the fear that had taken up residence in his chest.

"Teylanna, honey," he said softly, taking a page from Jennifer's book whenever she tried to gently discipline their daughter. "That's a bit of a bad word, and you're not allowed to say it."

The little girl's nostrils flared. "But you say it all the time, Daddy."

Rodney swallowed before he spoke. "Not all the time," he said, and it was an instant after the words had faded from his ears that he realized he'd said it childishly. He shook his head and tried to stare down his defiant daughter. "You're right. I do say it, but I'm a grownup and grownups are allowed to say things that little girls aren't, and that word is one of them. Okay?"

"Why?"

Startled by the simple and innocent question Rodney could only blurt out, "What?"

Teylanna's eyebrows lifted questioningly as she repeated, "Why?"

"Ah, well," Rodney cleared his throat and finally said more meekly than he'd wanted, "it's just the way it is."

"Why?"

"Because grownups are older and allowed to do more things than kids are allowed to do," Rodney said, hoping that his answer would be enough.

"Why?"

"Because grownups are older," he repeated.

"Why?"

_Crap!_ he thought to himself. _This could go on for a while, and Jennifer will be back soon!_ To his daughter he said, "It's just the way it is." Teylanna took in a quick breath and opened her mouth and Rodney knew that another interrogative was coming. He held up his hand to stop her and, in keeping with another of Jennifer's preferred actions in talking to their daughter, he reached over and placed his hands on the little girl's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Listen, Mommy would be very upset- maybe even **really** sad- if she heard you say that word." He waited a second for that to sink in, and he cursed himself when his daughter's face fell into sadness and worry. "We don't want that, do we?"

Teylanna shook her head in a slow left to right motion, and Rodney knew that he'd made his point. Still, the way he'd hoodwinked his daughter and the sad look on her normally bright face tugged at his usually well shielded heart. "Come on," he said as he stood up. He motioned to the door with his head and added, "Let's head to the Mess and see if there's any Jello left."

Teylanna's smile was as big and bright as he'd ever seen it, and his chest filled with the usual rush of warmth that he felt whenever he knew with absolute certainty that he'd made her happy. He was about to reach out to take her hand when the door opened and he could here Jennifer's voice drift through it. He pointed to the couch and whispered, "Hurry!" to Teylanna, who took off like a shot to hide behind the couch.

He turned towards the door just as Jennifer walked through, though 'ran through' might have been closer to the truth. The door closed and she leaned back against it heavily, as though she was immensely relieved to be home.

"Hey there," Rodney said after sending a surreptitious glance towards the couch. "Rough day?"

"You could say that," replied Jennifer with a tired voice. She pushed herself away from the door and started towards him. "Dr. Nichols is driving me nuts with his requests to join off-world teams." When she reached Rodney she gave him a quick kiss and then veered off towards the bedroom. Just as she passed through the doorway she said, "I swear that guy is so full of crap…"

Rodney never had time to turn and try to stop Teylanna before she jumped up with a wide grin on her lips and a resounding, "CRAP!" reached his ears.

His head snapped towards the bedroom and he watched, horrified, as Jennifer slowly reappeared at the door with a look of surprise, embarrassment and anger on her face.

Jennifer walked towards the couch as Rodney began formulating an escape plan. He was just getting around to thinking about disrupting the internal sensors when Jennifer said to their daughter, "Come here please, Teylanna."

Rodney watched, his hands nervously clasping at each other in front of him as Jennifer sat down and pulled Teylanna up into her lap.

"Teylanna, honey, I'm sorry for saying that word," Jennifer said softly, "and I'm sorry that you heard it. I really shouldn't have said it."

"That's right," declared Rodney, relieved beyond common sense that Jennifer was blaming herself and not him. "All is forgiven, no harm done, everyone's happy." He looked at Jennifer and said, "We were just heading to the Mess for some Jello and you should come with us." He turned and started towards the door, saying over his shoulder, "Let's go before it's all gone. My treat!"

He stopped at the door and looked back to see Jennifer whispering in Teylanna's ear, and when she'd finished the little girl nodded and said, "That's what Daddy said when he said it."

Rodney's stomach dropped somewhere into his socks as Jennifer's head slowly turned towards him. When he could finally see her face, all he could say to answer the accusatory anger in her eyes was, "Crap."

"CRAP!!!!!!!!"

Rodney groaned as Jennifer's intense gaze remained fixed upon him, and for the first time in since arriving in the Pegasus Galaxy, he wished for the days when the only thing he had to worry about was a nasty and spiteful Wraith Queen.


	13. A Timely Announcement

I still own nothing associated with Stargate…MGM does as far as I know.

Thanks to everyone who has read this up to now.

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"What do you want me to say?!?!?!" yelled Rodney over the alert sirens, operational conversation and damage and casualty reports. "There's nothing I can do! The self-destruct is counting down and the virus has us completely locked out of the system."

Colonel Ellis turned away from his XO and glared at Rodney. "Why can't we just do what you did with the _Daedalus _a few years ago?"

"Because we're completely locked out of the system!" replied Rodney with no attempt at all to hide or otherwise lessen the disdain he felt towards the _Apollo _commander. It had been that way since day one with Ellis. "Weren't you listening?" Before Ellis could respond Rodney held his hand up to explain, again, what the trouble was. "Look, the last time the Wraith wanted control of the _Daedalus _so they could get information about Earth, now they just want us dead. They've gotten smarter and they've made this virus affect each and every system from the start, including command functions and whole bunch of other things that you don't need to worry about right now. It's gone so far so fast that we can't even turn the lights on or off." He winced as the siren continued to blare. "Or turn that off."

Sheppard stepped in between Rodney and Ellis, facing his friend and giving the Canadian something to focus on besides Ellis and the hate he felt for the man. "There has to be something, Rodney." He motioned around the bridge with his hand and said, "Something."

Rodney looked off to his left for a second and his eyes connected with Jennifer's. He tried to tell her with his eyes how sorry he was he wasn't going to be able to save them, and just how much he loved her. Jennifer gave him a brave smile and he turned to look back at John. "I…no, nothing." Rodney took a deep breath and let it out as he went on. "The shutdown won't work because we can't access the main computer, not even the core, to initiate a simultaneous shutdown of all systems. A manual shutdown of each system won't work because they have redundancies that will keep them going before we can purge the virus and move onto the next system. Can't evacuate because we can't maneuver close enough to a planet, not that that would do us any good anyway because, that's right, we're still locked out of the system and can't use the transporter. We can't even open the 302 bay doors or eject the escape pods." He shook his head and added, "There's nothing I can do without a way into the system."

"What about uploading an anti-virus program?" asked Ronon. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the big man standing by the Jennifer at the back of the bridge. "What?" he demanded when he noticed everyone looking at him.

"Well I see someone read the 'Computers for Dummies' that I gave everyone for Christmas last year," said Rodney as he leaned down to look at the console in front of him. "We've tried but the virus has a defense mechanism, like a firewall, that protects it."

Ellis moved up to stand beside Sheppard, folded his arms across his chest and fixed Rodney with a pointed look. "You're supposed to be the genius here, Dr. McKay. What do you suggest we do?"

Rodney sighed and looked up to the ceiling in exasperation. After a moment he looked to Ellis and said in as calm a voice as he had, "I don't know…pray, maybe, if you believe in that sort of thing."

Heads snapped towards Rodney, and for once he truly didn't appreciate the attention. This was different. The man they usually depended on to save their asses had just pretty much signed their death warrants.

It sucked.

John opened his mouth to press him, but Rodney just shook his head and glanced at the monitor. "Four minutes," he announced, and he looked into John's eyes. "I'm…I'm sorry."

He turned to look at Ronon. The big Satedan simply nodded at him, and knowing that he would not be able to come up with the right words, Rodney returned the gesture. He glanced around the bridge at the mostly unfamiliar faces and felt some relief that Teyla hadn't come with them. At least she would live.

Before Rodney knew it he was walking towards Jennifer, and when he reached her he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a warm hug. "I'm sorry," he apologized, his whisper all but flowing right into her ear. "I'm sorry for making you come with me…"

Because Teyla hadn't been going, Rodney begged Jennifer to go with him so that he wouldn't be the third wheel in John and Ronon's testosterone extravaganza. After some nagging and against her better judgment, she relented and agreed to go on the trip.

"I'm glad you did," she said, her arms wrapping around his waist. She cuddled into him for a moment and then leaned back to look into his eyes. "There's something I need to tell you before…," she hesitated and then sighed. "Rodney, I'm pregnant. I'm…I'm so sorry I never told you but I only found out yester…"

"Pregnant?" asked Rodney as he tightened his arms around her in a vain attempt to protect her from what was about to happen. He thought about that for a second, and he realized that it probably wasn't a good thing to be squeezing Jennifer so hard with a baby in her belly. _A baby in her belly,_ he thought. "You're pregnant! And you're a genius!!!" Rodney shouted at Jennifer as he jumped away from her and bolted over to the main engineering station on the starboard side of the bridge.

Heads snapped towards the physicist for the second time in as many minutes.

They watched as he typed furiously at the keyboard, and listened as he muttered along with his actions, talking out something they knew had to be complex and well above most of their heads. Realizing that, they held their stations and waited silently for him to work a miracle.

All except one of them.

"What are you doing?" demanded Ellis as he took a step towards Rodney who simply ignored the Colonel and kept typing.

"Dr. McKay," Ellis tried, but again he received no response. "McKay!"

"Let him work," came a deep growl that could only have been made by the Satedan.

Ellis stopped and looked to Ronon and opened his mouth to say something, but held his tongue when Ronon put his right hand on the handle of his gun and took a step towards Ellis.

Ignoring the master of the vessel altogether, Rodney glanced up to Sheppard and then looked back down to the console. "I may be able to get the av into the system by embedding it in another program, one that could occupy the virus' firewall and slip the av past it undetected." He stopped and watched the screen in front of him intently. "If the pregnant program gives birth to a healthy baby anti-virus and the av gets in, we should know right…about…now!"

Suddenly the alert sirens stopped, and the bridge lighting, which up to that point had been dimmed, returned to normal. The voice of the computer said in its monotone voice, "Self-destruct aborted," and a collective sigh went around the bridge.

Heads turned to the nearest monitors where the time left for the self-destruct had been displayed.

0:01.239

Everyone turned and looked to Rodney, who was hunched over the console with his head bowed slightly. He was breathing hard, and if those watching him hadn't known better they would have said that he'd just run a marathon.

Finally he straightened up, and without sparing any of them a glance he rushed back to Jennifer and put his hands on her shoulders. His eyes were wider than usual and his voice cracked as he said, "Really?"

Tears streamed down Jennifer's face as her hands moved up to cup his face. She nodded happily and said, "Yes."

Rodney's eyes opened even wider and after a moment a slow smile spread across his face. He looked deep into the brown eyes of the woman he loved, the woman who was carrying his child and…

THUMP!!!!!!

He hit the floor and the last thing he heard before the darkness swallowed him was Ronon saying in a knowing voice, "Now he faints."


	14. Daddy Gets Played

Another chapter….maybe my muse has come home for a while. Thanks to DaniWilder for suggesting the topic of this chapter, namely a child going to one parent after the other has already said no.

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Rodney glared at the monitor on his desk with all his might. "Radek, how many times do I have to tell not to authorize stupid people to do stupid things after I've already told them it's stupid?"

Radek looked to the sky for some divine intervention, or at the very least for some patience, then walked from his workstation to Rodney's desk. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Rodney. Perhaps you would like to explain what the problem is."

Rodney rolled his eyes and pointed to the power usage formula submitted by one of the newer additions to his department. Tomlinson was a borderline moron, as far as he was concerned, and the sooner the twit got transferred back to Earth the better he'd feel.

Tomlinson had come to him three days earlier and asked if he could perform an experiment on one of the ZedPMs. At first he'd been receptive, his seven years with a wife and daughter having taught him that it was always best to at least listen for a minute before saying anything, but it didn't take long to see that the moron didn't have the first clue about ZedPMs.

"I told Tomlinson three days ago that this experiment on the ZedPM was dangerous and told him he couldn't do it." Rodney pointed to a particular line in one of the page long equations and said, "And I told him that this was stupid. He assumes that the power curve of a ZedPM is constant, which it isn't." He turned his head enough to look at Zelenka who had come to stand on his left. "Right?"

Radek leaned forward and studied the screen for a moment. "Of course it isn't constant."

"Then why did you tell this hack that he could run this experiment?" demanded Rodney.

Radek straightened up and gave Rodney a bemused look. "Because it could give us some insight into the compression of subspace used to power the ZPM."

Rodney folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes at the man he most trusted, besides himself of course, to look after Atlantis. "And how did you come to that interesting, yet totally wrong, conclusion?"

"If the power utilization…" started Radek, but his mouth slammed shut as Rodney interrupted.

"You know what it doesn't matter." Rodney stood up and paced around to the other side of his desk so he could face Radek. "The point is this is my department. He asked me if he could do it and then he tried to undercut me by going to you after I said no." He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "And I'm not even mad at you, at least not really. I'm pissed at him because he knew I didn't approve of it. His going to you makes me look bad, it undermines my authority and," he shrugged and lifted his head defiantly, "it makes me look bad."

Radek stood still for a moment and then nodded. "You're right." He hesitated for a second and added, "About it making you look bad, not about the experiment being dangerous."

Rodney cleared the surprise out of his throat with a cough and then eyed Radek. "You know, the sewer system at the bottom of the East Pier needs some maintenance work done on it."

"Having said that," Radek said as he adjusted his glasses, "it was wrong for him to come to me if you had already said that he couldn't do it." His eyebrows lifted questioningly. "What are we going to do about it?"

"You'll be more careful from now on," said Rodney as he walked back over to his chair and sat down. "And I guess we'll have to have a talk to them about respecting the chain of command or something."

"Very well," replied Radek as he made his way back to his own desk.

Rodney sat back down at his desk and opened up an email that had come through from Jeannie. He was just past the first sentence when a familiar voice saying hello to Radek caught his attention.

Rodney looked up and watched Jennifer as she walked towards him. She was wearing her workout clothes, the tight fitting, black workout suit that he always hated when she wore it in public. He always thought men ogled her when she wore it. Not that he could blame them really. He had a really hot wife.

His eyes finally reached her eyes just as she approached his desk and he immediately went on guard. To anyone else she looked like her usual self, but Rodney knew that was a fake smile on her face. Years and years of empirical study of Jennifer hadn't been a complete waste.

She was pissed, and by the way she was looking at him, she was pissed at him.

"Hello, Rodney," she said as she stopped in front of his desk. "Have you seen Teylanna by any chance?"

"I…well, she was in here an hour ago," he said warily. "Something wrong?"

Jennifer sat down on one of the mobile stools and placed her elbow on the table, then rested her chin in her hand. "Did you tell her she could have a sleepover with her friends tonight?"

_Oh crap,_ he thought worriedly. "I…well, you see there was…"

"Yes or no, Rodney?" Jennifer said with her smile firmly in place.

Rodney evaluated the situation and decided that it was best to not fool around. He gulped down the sudden obstruction blocking his airway and meekly answered with, "Yes."

"I see," Jennifer said as she straightened up and clasped her hands together on her lap. "So, you told a seven year old that she could invite her friends over to stay the night," her head tilted ever so slightly to the left, "after I told her she couldn't?"

Rodney felt his stomach drop into his socks. "You…she didn't tell me that she'd asked you!"

"And you didn't ask her if she'd asked me," Jennifer pointed out calmly. "And you never even thought to check with me did you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Jennifer got up off the stool and turned towards the exit. As she walked towards the door she said over her shoulder, "I'll go get some snacks for you and the girls, then I have to get ready for my night shift."

Rodney was so enthralled with examining just how well her sensuous curves were being enhanced by her suit that all he could say was, "Okay."

It wasn't until she'd been gone for nearly a minute that he managed to shake himself out of his stupor and say, "What?!?!"

"I believe she said that she is working tonight and that you will have to supervise Teylanna's sleepover," Radek said with subdued glee.

It wasn't subdued enough however, and Rodney turned a spiteful glare upon his friend and said, "Now about that sewer maintenance that **you're** going to take care of…"


	15. What's Up, Doc?

I know it's short and not my best effort…that's what I get for rushing it. Got two of my own little ones to take trick or treating after all. I haven't bothered a beta with it, so they're all my boo-boos. MGM still owns Stargate and all that stuff.

Happy Halloween.

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"No! Absolutely not! Not a chance!" Rodney folded his arms across his chest and defiantly raised his chin and glared at the woman demanding the impossible from him. "I have too much work…"

"Radek has already told me that all your projects are up to date, Rodney," interrupted a calm and humor-tinged voice. "And there are no major repairs that require the Head of Science's attention."

Rodney's chin lowered an inch as some of the bluster left him. He hadn't anticipated such a swift and accurate response. "Well, I have some prep work to do for the mission…"

Rodney stopped as a perfectly shaped eyebrow lifted in amusement and the same voice said, "John let me know that your next mission isn't until next week, and any work you need to do for that can wait a few days."

The resolve melted out of his shoulders and jaw as both fell in unison. "Jennifer…you can't be serious." He glanced to the object on the couch and never even tried to suppress the revulsion he felt for what he was looking at.

For the first time since telling Rodney the bad news, she gave him a sympathetic smile as she slowly walked towards him. "I'm afraid I am, Rodney." She reached up and gently turned his head so that she could look into his eyes. Her hands moved to rest on his shoulders and she said, "It's only for a couple of hours and it's all over." Her fingers pressed into the knotted up flesh and briefly entertained the notion of calling Woolsey and telling him that she couldn't go to M7G-677 after all. "I've already asked Sandy to help you get her ready."

Rodney's hands slipped up to Jennifer's waist out of habit more than anything else. "Then why can't she do it then?" he asked, though he knew what the answer was going to be.

Jennifer gave Rodney THE look. "Because you're her father, Rodney."

The pang of regret in his chest at asking the question made him accept that response without comment. "I'll never be able…they won't let me live it down."

Jennifer began rubbing his shoulders in earnest and leaned in closer to him. "They don't really matter, do they?" She cast a quick glance to the closed door of Teylanna's room. "Isn't she what's important?"

Rodney hated it when Jennifer was right. More than that, he hated it when Jennifer did what she was doing to get him to do something he didn't want to do. Though as a sigh came without warning to his lips as her hands continued to work their magic, he realized it wasn't so much that he hated what she was doing as much as he hated that he fell for it every time.

Jennifer smiled and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, and for the millionth time since falling in love with her, Rodney cursed his inability to resist even her most outrageous requests.

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Rodney looked at himself in the mirror and willed himself not to cringe at the sight. Because he loved his daughter and wife more than anything else in two universes, he would soon exit his quarters and suffer a humiliation worse than anything he'd experienced before.

And he'd experienced some humiliation in his life.

"Daddy," came a muffled voice through the door of his bedroom, "I'm ready."

Rodney sighed, reached up and fixed the part of the costume covering his nose and walked to the door. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he announced when the door slid open. He looked at Sandy, one of Jennifer's most trusted nurses and friends, expecting to find her trying not to laugh at the very least. He was shocked to find that it was the exact opposite.

In fact she gave him what looked like a genuinely kind-hearted smile as she looked at him and said, "If you need me for anything, Dr. McKay, just give me a call." She looked down to Teylanna, who had been waiting by his door and said, "And don't forget to come to my door…I have a special treat for you."

Rodney couldn't help but smile when his daughter's head bobbed up and down excitedly. "Ah, thanks, I guess, for your help."

"No problem, Doctor," she replied instantly. "Have fun."

"Right," mumbled Rodney as the nurse turned and left him alone with his daughter.

When the door closed Teylanna turned towards him, the long golden locks of her costume's wig whipping around her head. "Ready, Daddy?"

At that moment nothing else mattered to him. "Ready." He held his hand out to her which she took without hesitation. He looked down to her and said, "Let's go get some goodies!"

"YAY!!!"

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_These things are like saunas,_ griped Rodney's inner voice as he felt a bead of sweat travel down a very uncomfortable path along his lower abdomen. An hour after leaving their quarters, they'd been to the Control Room, the labs and the Infirmary, and had almost finished the crew's quarters. In fact, there was only one room left.

Rodney shifted on his padded feet and rearranged Teylanna's three bags of loot, which ranged from individual pieces of candy all the way to what amounted to loot bags. There was even a doll in one bag, courtesy of Sandy.

Rodney watched as Teylanna passed her tiny hand over the sensor and then shifted his glare towards the door. Everyone had been surprisingly nice about his predicament and the ridiculous costume he was wearing, saving their comments and snickers for after he was out of earshot he supposed. In truth he had been expecting unrelenting and blatant ridicule from everyone who saw him.

The door opened and Teylanna's musical voice sounded out, "Trick or treat, Uncle John!!!"

John Sheppard smiled instantly and knelt down in front of Teylanna. "Well hey there, kiddo." He gave her a quick appraisal and said with a satisfied nod, "I think you're the best looking Alice I've ever seen."

"Thank you, Uncle John," Teylanna replied, and even Rodney could tell her reply was strained with impatience.

John's smile widened and he stood up. He leaned to his right and said, "Let's see if I have some…aha!" He came back into view and handed Teylanna a small, gift wrapped box. "You wait 'til you get home to open that up, kiddo," he said, and with a brief flicker of a glance to Rodney he added, "and don't let that giant rabbit have any."

Teylanna launched herself at Sheppard and hugged his right leg tightly. John smiled and hugged her back, then looked up to Rodney.

"Aren't you going to be late for something?" he asked Rodney deadpan.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a funny man?" asked Rodney, not even bothering to hide the irritation he was feeling. Before Sheppard could say anything he said, "No I didn't think so, because you aren't."

Sheppard shrugged nonchalantly as Teylanna released him. He smiled down at her again. "Looks like you have quite the haul there, Tey," he said, using the nickname that he knew drove Rodney nuts.

The little girl nodded excitedly and said, "Good-bye, Uncle John." She reached over and tugged on the gold-colored watch chain that adorned the front of Rodney's rabbit costume and said, "Come on, Daddy!"

"You go ahead, Teylanna," he said, stressing her name while shooting John a dirty look. "I just need to talk to Uncle John for a second."

"'Kay," she said as she started skipping towards their nearby quarters. "Bye, Uncle John."

"Later, Tey," John replied with a laugh, which ended abruptly when he saw the evil glare Rodney was giving him. "You have no idea how hard it is to resist saying 'What's up, Doc?' right now."

Rodney sighed and then asked, "And why haven't you?"

John gave his friend a smirk. "I'm afraid of your wife."

That response caught Rodney completely by surprise.

"She threatened everyone with severe nastiness at our next physicals if we made fun of you. Seriously, Rodney," explained Sheppard with a grin as he leaned against the doorframe, "how did she get you to dress up as the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?"

The Colonel immediately regretted asking the question when a very wide smile formed on Rodney's lips, and then shook his head and said, "Never mind." John gave Rodney a wave and then stepped back into his quarters, the door silently sliding shut behind him.

Rodney stared at the door for a moment longer, then sprightly turned on his padded feet and headed after his daughter.

_Maybe Halloween isn't such a waste after all._


	16. Daddy Carries a Gun When He Needs to

Still don't own it. And it hasn't been beta'ed.

* * *

Jennifer gave her fifteen year old daughter one more appraising look and nodded in satisfaction. The dark blue skirt and plain white blouse really complimented each other well. The ensemble also did much to bring out the blue of Teylanna's eyes, which were always a bright blue anyway, much like her father's.

She reached over and brushed Teylanna's long blond hair off her shoulders, and stifled a grin as her daughter sighed at the gesture. Jennifer knew she'd been nitpicking at Teylanna for the last hour, offering advice, mostly unsolicited of course, on everything from hairstyles to clothes to makeup, (not that Teylanna wore much), and even what shoes to wear.

Teylanna sighed again as Jennifer tucked her daughter's hair behind her left ear. "I'm sorry," Jennifer said as she reached down with both hands and held Teylanna's. Her daughter smiled at her and Jennifer shrugged, partly out of embarrassment and partly as an apology. "Mothers are supposed to make big deals out of their daughter's first date," she explained as she squeezed Teylanna's hands.

That was her story and she was sticking to it. She hadn't had any experience in the matter, her own mother having passed away before her first date had come around. The only real proof that she had for that statement came from Jeannie, who had told her more than once about Madison's first date and what a mother hen she'd been.

Besides, Teylanna was **her** daughter, and **her** daughter's first date was a big deal to **her**.

Of course 'date' was a pretty generous term: movie night with friends and off-duty Atlantis personnel could only barely be called a date. But the young man in question had asked her to go, and even more than that he had asked Rodney if he could ask in the first place. It reeked of hilarity, especially given the identity of the young man.

"Dad isn't going to be here is he?" asked Teylanna with a disappointed glance to the door of their quarters.

Jennifer heard the anxiousness in her daughter's voice and smiled. It was plain to see that Teylanna thought as much about the significance of the evening as she did.

"Your father said he'd be here, right?" asked Jennifer. Teylanna nodded and Jennifer smiled again. "Then he'll be here."

"It wouldn't be the first time something's come up," Teylanna pointed out. "Remember the time the Wraith ambushed him and Uncle John and they missed my sixth birthday? Or the time he got stung by that wasp thingy and missed my grade five science fair presentation.

Jennifer smiled inwardly at the way her daughter said 'grade five' like her father would have instead of 'fifth grade' as she would have. She then resisted cursing the fact that her daughter was one of those people who remembered every single thing that happened to them in their lives.

"Your father hasn't gone off world on a mission in almost three years," Jennifer reminded Teylanna. "All we have to worry about these days is him tinkering with Ancient devices that he knows next to nothing about."

"Which reminds me of the time…"

The door chime interrupted Teylanna, and a look of disappointment followed immediately by a look of anticipation flashed across her features.

"Go ahead," Jennifer told her with a nod towards the door. "You better let him in before he changes his mind and asks Marina to go with him."

"Moooooom!" Teylanna moaned as she moved towards the door. She passed her hand over the sensor and it slid open, revealing a handsome sixteen year old boy standing in the doorway.

Jennifer watched the pair exchange nervous looks before her daughter seemed to shake herself out of it and stand aside to let the boy in.

Abraham Ellis Jr. walked a few feet into their quarters and stood nervously near the couch. "Good evening, Dr. McKay," the boy said after two failed attempts.

Jennifer gave Abraham a warm smile and returned the greeting. "Good evening to you, Abraham."

She smiled inwardly as she remembered the look of utter horror on Rodney's face when Teylanna had told them who had asked her out. The thought of Ellis' son spending time with his daughter was excruciating for Rodney, despite the fact that he genuinely liked the younger Ellis. He was a smart young man primed and ready for a career in astrophysics. And to Rodney's surprise, Abraham continually asked him intelligent and insightful about Atlantis and his work, and he did so without displaying any of the arrogance and condescension that had made his father infamous amongst the people of Atlantis. _'He must have gotten his good manners from his mother,'_ Rodney had said after first meeting the boy, and she had been inclined to agree.

Abraham turned to look at Teylanna, who had moved to stand next to him. "You look beau…" He turned sharply towards Jennifer, as though he'd forgotten she was there and then turned back to Teylanna. "You look nice."

Jennifer only barely managed to keep from laughing at the boy's awkwardness. "I think she looks beautiful," she said and earned a reproachful glare from her daughter.

"Me too," Abraham said dreamily as he remained focused on Teylanna.

Jennifer put her hand over her mouth to hide her smile, then swiftly turned around and picked up the tablet she had waiting when Abraham turned to look at her.

"Mrs. Mc…I mean, Dr. McKay?"

She turned to face the kids and raised her eyebrows response. She didn't dare try to talk lest a fit of laughter that she would have no control over begin.

"Are there any special instructions you have?"

The seriousness in Abraham's face and voice almost did her in. She took a moment to calm her bubbling hysterics down and then said, "No, Abraham. Teylanna knows the rules." She gave her daughter a warning look. "And she knows the consequences should she break them."

Teylanna rolled her eyes and walked to the door. As she passed her hand over the sensor she said, "See you in a couple of hours, Mom." Abraham started walking towards the open door as Teylanna added, "Tell Dad…"

"Tell Dad what?" asked Rodney as he suddenly appeared in the doorway.

Rodney's near magical appearance surprised Abraham, sending the teenager into an uncontrolled backpedal that ended after three steps with an unceremonious meeting of his backside with the floor.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Teylanna as she rushed to Abraham and helped him up off the floor. "Are you trying to scare us to death?"

Jennifer looked at Rodney and slowly shook her head in disbelief. There stood her husband of seventeen years, decked out in full off world regalia, including flak jacket, sidearm and P-90 despite the fact that he hadn't worn the outfit for years. Only her long experience being around the weapon of choice for Atlantis personnel told her the P-90 wasn't loaded.

Rodney caught her eye for a second then turned his full and piercing attention to Teylanna and a now vertical Abraham.

"I'm not trying to scare you, no," Rodney said to Teylanna though he kept looking at Abraham. "Sorry I'm late, but I just did my off world recertification and I didn't think I'd have time to change before you left." Rodney folded his arms across his chest, resting his hands on the butt end of the P-90. It was reminiscent of one of Sheppard's more famous poses and Jennifer filed the fact away for later teasing. "Hello, Abraham."

Abraham gulped. "Hi," another gulp, "Dr. McKay. You…is that…did you pass?"

Rodney gave the young man a wide smile and nodded once. "Oh yes indeed. With a near perfect score." Rodney's eyes narrowed as he regarded his daughter. "So you'll be home by ten, right?"

"Yes, Dad," she replied with a huff and a glare.

Rodney ignored both and turned to look at Abraham. "And you'll make sure she's home by ten, right?"

"Yes, sir, Dr. McKay," Abraham responded louder than was necessary. "Ten o'clock."

Rodney looked back and forth between the two, then moved to the side so they could leave. Teylanna reached up and kissed his cheek as they passed by and he said, "Have fun."

"We will," Teylanna replied as the doors slid shut.

Jennifer looked at Rodney and shook her head again.

"What?" demanded Rodney.

Jennifer finally allowed herself to laugh. The bluster with which he asked was the type she'd seen far too often in their lives together, the type that he used when he knew he did something wrong and was trying to deflect attention away from that fact.

"You scared that poor boy on purpose," she said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Oh please," Rodney said as he walked towards her. He took the P-90 in his hand and held it out. "It's not even loaded. And his father is a general for crying out loud, though I'll never understand how that happened or whose ass he had to ki…"

"That's not the point, Rodney," Jennifer interrupted. She indicated his wardrobe with an up and down sweep of her arm. "You haven't been on a mission in years and tonight, of all nights, you decide you need to recertify?" Rodney opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "And you came here with all that gear on in a blatant attempt to intimidate our daughter's date!"

Rodney looked to the floor and Jennifer didn't know if she should hug him for being so protective of their daughter or hit him for it. She reached over and began undoing the clasps of his tac vest. "That was the wrong thing to do, Rodney." She slipped the vest over his shoulders and took it in her right hand when it slipped down his arms. She placed it on the couch and then faced her husband. She slipped her arms up around his neck and drew him to her, saying just before her lips pressed against his, "And I love you for it."


	17. Miracle

"'Twas the night before Christmas" written by Clement Clarke Moore.

I don't own SGA or anything associated with it. Although 'Teylanna' is my creation.

***

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except Rodney and Teylanna…

***

"He's not going to come, Teylanna."

"Yes he is."

"No he's not."

"Yes he is."

"Really, he won't come."

"Yes he will, Daddy."

"Let me rephrase, young lady," said Rodney as he tried with all his might to give his daughter one of his patented 'don't argue with me' glares. It was the sixth time in the four hours since he and Jennifer had put their daughter to bed that she'd called out to them. "He's not going to come until you go to sleep."

Teylanna sat up in her bed and crossed her arms across her little chest in a way that reminded Rodney of Jennifer when she'd thought he'd done something incredibly annoying.

"And what kind of stupid rule is that?" she demanded, then mumbled, "Sorry," when she saw the look her father gave her when he heard the 'S' word. "I mean really, he can't come until I'm asleep. Why not? Is he afraid I'll see him? Is he afraid of me?"

"There are times I'm afraid of you," Rodney mumbled softly.

"What did you say, Daddy?" demanded Teylanna, her little nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Nothing!" exclaimed Rodney in a hurry. "No, he's not afraid of you. Santa is, well he just doesn't like…he just won't come until you go to sleep." He knew it wouldn't satisfy the incredible curiosity of his seven year old daughter so he said, "Look it's like the rule you made up about washing your hair before you wash your feet when you're in the tub. It's just something you want to do and that's how it is with Santa."

Teylanna huffed and her little hands fell onto her lap. "What if he doesn't come?"

Rodney sighed and sat down on the edge of Teylanna's bed. "Hey," he said to get her to look at him. When she finally looked up he said, "Santa has come every year so far, right?" When Teylanna nodded he asked, "He's always brought you what you asked for, right?" Again his little girl nodded. "And you've been a good girl, right?" Teylanna's nod was a little slower than the others, as if she wasn't sure if that was the whole truth or not. "You've been the best little girl that your Mom and I could have asked for," he assured her in what Jennifer had always called his father voice. "Now," he said as though she was a student and he was her instructor, "If you were a good girl, which you were, and Santa always comes, what will happen?"

"Santa will come," she replied after giving it a moment of thought.

"After you go to sleep," he said as he gently tapped the tip of her nose with his finger.

Teylanna nodded and eased herself backwards and closed her eyes when her head touched her pillow. Rodney stood up and carefully tucked his daughter in, then leaned down and kissed her forehead. He straightened up and said, "Merry Christmas, Teylanna."

"Merry Christmas, Daddy," she replied, though she kept her eyes closed.

Rodney shook his head and walked towards the door, pausing when he reached it to give his daughter one more look. Satisfied that she was finally going to give in and go to sleep, Rodney stepped through the door and made his way to the couch. He plopped down onto the couch and looked at the clock adorning the far wall. He cringed at seeing that it was well after midnight and then picked up his tablet. He read the report Woolsey had been hounding him to read, and when he was done he sent Woolsey a message nicely saying that it was a waste of his time. After tossing the tablet back onto the couch, he stood up and walked back to Teylanna's room. He poked his head around the doorframe and smiled. She'd turned over onto her belly with her face facing towards him. Her eyes were still closed and her mouth was slightly ajar.

"Teylanna?" he whispered. He got no response and tried one more time. "Teylanna?"

When he received no response the second time, he nodded to himself and walked back out into the living room. He made his way to their tree, still brightly lit with an obscene amount of multicolored lights, and tapped his earpiece. "McKay to Apollo."

'It's about time, Doctor,' came Ellis' clipped voice.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Have you ever tried to get a child to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, Colonel?" he asked in a harsh whisper. He feared he might have woken Teylanna and turned to look at her door, but there was no sign of her.

When Ellis' voice filtered through his earpiece again it was noticeably gentler. "No, Dr. McKay. I haven't had the opportunity."

Rodney's eyebrows lifted in surprise, but then he remembered that John had told him that Ellis had a son that he very rarely saw. "Yes, well, it's not that easy." He hesitated for a second and then added, "Fire away when ready."

A moment later a bright white flash announced the arrival of a dozen or more presents of all shapes and sizes, wrapped in all different colored wrapping paper. He didn't bother counting the presents- they were being held in a secure location and he'd programmed the transport command subroutine himself.

'Transport successful,' announced Ellis. There was a slight pause and then, 'Merry Christmas, Doctor.'

"Ah, thank you," Rodney replied a little hesitantly. He wasn't entirely sure he'd heard Ellis wish him a Merry Christmas or not. Just to be on the safe side he said, "Merry Christmas."

'Apollo out.'

Rodney shook his head in disbelief and made his way to his room, believing a little more in the existence of miracles than he had before. He walked through the door and stopped. He stood there for a long time, unable to move as he took in the sight of his beautiful wife sleeping peacefully in their bed. She was on her left side facing away from his side of the bed, the blankets covering her only going up to just above her hip leaving her upper body visible.

Her beauty and peacefulness was amazing to him considering the day she'd had bouncing from trauma room to trauma room trying to save Major Lewis' team after they'd been attacked by the Wraith. But she'd managed to save them all, with the help of her staff of course.

He crept in, quietly got ready for bed and then slipped underneath the covers, being as gentle as he could as to not disturb her. He'd just gotten settled on his back and closed his eyes when he felt the bed shift, and then felt Jennifer's hand slide across him to rest on his chest. He opened his eyes and turned his head to look into her eyes.

"She's asleep?" Jennifer asked.

Rodney nodded as his right hand slid up to hold Jennifer's. "You should be, too."

Jennifer smiled and closed her eyes. "I love you."

Rodney smiled back and just watched his wife as she drifted back to sleep. It occurred to him that as a man who didn't particularly believe in miracles, he'd seen more than his fair share of things that could most definitely fall into that category. The beautiful and intelligent woman who'd just told him she loved him was one of them. The beautiful and intelligent little girl sleeping in the next room was another.

Rodney sighed happily and whispered, "I love you, too," before letting sleep claim him as well.


	18. What a Little Motivation Will Do

I still own nothing. MGM does. Thanks to DaniWilder for looking this over for me, and my apologies for forgetting to give you the credit you deserve...I can be forgetful sometimes.

* * *

When the MALP had gone through the gate five hours earlier, the cameras had immediately sent back video of the DHD resting in what appeared to be a grassy field. A quick three hundred and sixty degree pan of the camera had showed them nothing of significance, except to clarify that the gate and DHD had been in the middle of a **very big**, grassy field. With a zoom here and a zoom there, the high res camera had sent back crystal clear images of a farmhouse, or what appeared to be Pegasus' version of a farmhouse, as well as a building that looked suspiciously like a barn.

Sheppard had watched it all with detached interest, and had been about to interrupt Lorne and tell him and his team to gear up for a standard recon when the camera found an odd looking building just about the same time as the MALP's sensors began to go haywire. It had been right about then that Rodney started blathering excitedly about energy readings and having to go and check it out.

Before he knew it, he was adjusting his sunglasses just before stepping though the gate. He and his team had materialized in a mid-afternoon heat that had them all sweating bullets within a few moments. They hadn't even had a chance to start walking in the direction of the promising energy reading before the welcoming committee had appeared on the path leading into the field- forty or fifty of them, dressed in clothes that appeared to be what a typical farmer would wear. It hadn't been until they'd gotten very close that Sheppard could discern advanced looking energy weapons in their hands, which had added an all too familiar sense of foreboding to their agrarian attire.

The people of the planet had taken exception to something, and despite Ronon's menacing posture, Teyla's attempts at diplomacy and his laying on the charm, they'd been taken prisoners with only the word, "Trespassing," being uttered as a rudimentary explanation. He had been tempted to force the issue, but the people looked edgy enough to open fire with the slightest resistance.

So it was that they had been disarmed, then marched single file for nearly a klick from the gate. They'd been taken to the odd looking building the MALP saw and which was situated on the outskirts of what looked to be a sizable village. The building's construction, both the design and the materials used to build it, made it stand starkly out of place among the other buildings they had seen and could see as they were prodded inside. Built out of some sort of concrete the white, windowless building was one level unless it had underground levels.

John had memorized the route as they had been taken to their cells so that when, and there had been no doubt in his mind that it was 'when' and not 'if', they made their escape, he'd be able to lead them back out. He'd tensed when their captors roughly pushed Teyla into a room and closed the door, then had to give Ronon a look to tell him to take it easy when the same was done to him. Rodney had walked into his cell on his own, though he could hear his friend muttering angrily as the door closed. A moment after Rodney disappeared, he'd been shoved inside his own room.

It wasn't really terrible as prison cells went; it certainly had not been the worst he'd had the pleasure of occupying. It was roomy enough, with a toilet in one corner and a comfortable looking cot along one wall. There was no window, which didn't surprise him as he hadn't seen any on the building at all, but he did get a bit of a shock when he turned around to try and figure out how to leave his cage: the door lock was technologically far beyond anything that he'd seen on the planet so far.

He'd picked at the lock for an hour before admitting to himself that it was far beyond his technical expertise. It had been about then that he'd parked his ass on the cot and resigned himself to waiting. He didn't have to wait long. In fact, he'd been so caught off guard by how quickly and suddenly the door opened that he never even had the chance to jump up off the cot, let alone try to jump whoever was coming in.

_Just as well_, he thought with some confused amusement, for standing in the doorway was none other than Rodney.

"Just don't sit there like you're actually enjoying the five star accommodations," snapped Rodney with a scowl.

John never even had the opportunity to respond before his friend disappeared back out into the hall. He took a second to try to process what had happened, then abandoned the effort and bolted for the door.

He found Rodney hunched over some sort of computer resting on a table across from his room, typing furiously at the device and muttering harshly as he did so.

"Rodney," whispered John as he glanced around, looking for any guards that may be about to shoot them or otherwise sound the alarm that would quash any chance for escape. He kept looking about but once again called to Rodney. "Rodney!"

"What?!?!" demanded Rodney roughly without looking up from the computer.

_Step one- get the team out._

"We need to get..."

"Ronon and Teyla are scouting down the hall," interrupted Rodney as he continued working at the computer.

_Step two- find our weapons._

"Good. We need to find..."

Rodney's left hand stopped its work and pointed to a drawer embedded in the wall to his left. "In there." He focused on his task again but said, "Ronon already has his toys and Teyla got her P-90."

John rushed over to the drawer, noted the fact that the lock was the same type that adorned the door of his room and that it had been disabled, and then pulled it open. He retrieved his P-90, made sure it was good to go and then reached for his 9mm. It was as he slid the weapon into its holster that he noticed two natives sprawled out on the floor behind Rodney.

_Step three- figure out what the hell is going on._

He swiftly moved back into the hallway, and after a quick glance around to make sure they hadn't been discovered said, "Have you been able..."

Rodney stopped typing and walked quickly around the table to join Sheppard in the hallway. "They're sort of like the Genii only they have better toys," he explained as he took his 9mm from the holster on his hip. "I've got their database downloaded so we can figure it all out later, you know, when we're not on the lam."

_Step four- get the hell out of Dodge._

"Alright, we need to..."

"This way," Rodney cut in as he brushed past him.

John rushed to catch up to Rodney. "Are you sure..."

"The way they brought us in was the long way," said Rodney as they turned the corner to find Ronon and Teyla waiting for them by a large door, three guards lying in various positions on the floor near them.

He nodded to them both as Rodney started to work on the lock. They all raised their weapons when they heard the lock click and saw Rodney straighten up.

"Let's go," said Rodney as he opened the door.

Sheppard followed Rodney, and was followed in turn by Teyla with Ronon bringing up the rear. They stealthily made their way along the side of the building until Rodney reached the corner closest to the path that would take them to the Stargate. The scientist crouched down and peered carefully around the corner.

He turned back and whispered, "Two guards."

Sheppard moved to make past Rodney to check out the situation first hand and then devise a silent method of neutralizing the guards when Rodney pushed him back.

He was about to ask Rodney what he was doing when the scientist looked to his watch and then whispered, "Wait for it."

Right on cue the alarms started blaring, shattering the peace and quiet that had been prevalent in the humid air. Rodney looked around the corner again and then said as he quickly rose and started running towards the field. "Now!"

Sheppard spared a quick glance to Ronon and Teyla before running after Rodney.

Despite the heat and the fact that Rodney generally complained about having to walk fifty feet let alone run a klick, he ran the kilometer without stopping and without saying a word.

When they reached the field, Rodney made for the DHD and began dialing as he, Ronon and Teyla took up defensive positions and waited for the dialing sequence to finish. The gate had just whooshed to life when the first native came into view, followed closely by another and then several more.

"Time to go!" announced Sheppard as he turned to the silver event horizon. He waited until the others went through before running into the wormhole himself. An instant later he found himself in the climate controlled environment of the gate room, instantly causing his sweat soaked shirt to become clammy and cling to him in a most uncomfortable fashion.

Rodney went over to collapse onto the bottom stair leading up to the control room and John ambled over to where Ronon and Teyla stood watching the scientist.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and then gave each of his friends an appraising look. "So which one of you got the drop on the guards back there?" he asked curiously, and his curiosity deepened when Ronon and Teyla looked at each other, then back to him, and then turned in scary unison towards Rodney.

It took Sheppard a moment to get up to speed with what they were saying. His eyebrows rose and his voice was low when he asked, "Rodney?"

He followed their gazes to look at Rodney, who had his eyes closed and was trying to catch his breath. He was still trying to figure it out when Teyla provided the crucial missing piece to the puzzle.

"Yes, John, it was Rodney." She gave him a smile when he looked to her, and when she spoke her voice was soft but full of meaning and pride. "Tomorrow is Teylanna's first birthday."

The light that went on above his head could have probably lit up the entire city.

"Of course," he said quietly. He gave his friend a knowing smile just as Jennifer rushed into the gate room and headed straight for her husband. He casually waved away the orderlies and nurse that came to check on them and whispered, "All he needed was some real motivation."


	19. Thoughtful and Wonderful

Still own nothing. This is in the future a little, so the F-304 is of course an upgrade of the F-302.

Thanks to DaniWilder for your thoughts and encouragement, and pestering me to try to write something.

* * *

Rodney sat at his customary station in the control room, eagerly waiting for the gate to activate. There was no doubt in his mind that the chevrons around the giant sphere embedded in the floor below would soon begin to glow. He had written the macros himself, and despite the fact that they were infinitely more complex than the mini programs he'd designed for the first gate bridge, he knew they were perfect and foolproof.

"How come you waited so long to try it again, Daddy?"

Rodney looked up from the diagnostic he'd been running in a vain attempt to keep his mind off the test and found his nine year old daughter sitting in the chair beside him. He glanced at the screen before asking for some clarification. "How come I waited so long to try what?"

Teylanna motioned towards the gate with her right small hand. "The bridge, Daddy," she replied as though the subject of her query should have been obvious to her father. "The Carter/McKay Intergalactic Gate Bridge," she recited with far too much ease for one so young. "Why did you wait so long to try it again?"

Rodney swiveled his chair around so that he could face his daughter. "Actually it was called the McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge." He paused as his daughter's face came dangerously close to mimicking Jennifer's whenever he corrected her. "Well it's important to be correct and precise when asking someone a question, isn't it?"

"But that's what Auntie Sam called it" Teylanna innocently informed him with a slight frown on her lips.

"She…well I…wait until," Rodney stammered comically, at least he was sure it would have been comical to anyone who might have been listening. "Okay, for the record, it was McKay/Carter. Second, the reason it's taken so long is, well, there are a lot of reasons."

Teylanna's eyes caught fire as they always did when she was ready to absorb information. She grabbed the console and pulled on it to move herself in closer to her father. "Like what, Daddy?"

Rodney couldn't help but smile proudly at her excitement. He leaned in closer to his daughter and brought up the gate system on the display screen. "It isn't easy finding the right amount of normally unused gates to make the system. It took a while find the gates and make sure their planets were uninhabited and had been for a while. Then a new station had to be built…"

"Midway," Teylanna said, and she felt bubble of pride pop in her chest when her father gave her an approving nod.

"That's right," he confirmed. "And after the trouble last time we wanted to make sure that this Midway has defensive shields and weapons. We even wanted a small fleet of F-304s aboard." He gave her a challenging look and asked, "And what does that mean?"

Teylanna thought for a moment and then took a deep breath, saying as she exhaled, "It would need shield generators, which would take up a lot of room. And the F-304s would need a hangar bay, and the ships would need pilots who would need living space." She gazed into her father's waiting eyes. "So it would have to be a lot bigger than the first Midway."

"Very good," replied Rodney. "It takes a lot of time and resources to build a space station of any size, let alone a large one a long way away from Earth and Atlantis." He checked the diagnostic and said, "The most important thing we had to do though, was create macros for the gates along the travel route that couldn't be tampered with. The macros have to be secure, which takes testing and time, time that I didn't have. I've been very busy with things around here." He reached over and touched the tip of her nose with his finger as he added with a smile, "Like you."

Teylanna's giggle was immediately drowned out by the gate activation alert and people seemed to appear out of thin air to man each and every station around them.

Rodney turned and studied the screen as the gate exploded to life. A tech informed the room at large that an IDC was being received and excitement began building within him in earnest. A moment later, he stood and watched as four people came through the gate.

Teylanna ran to the rail to see and immediately jump up and down in excitement. "Colonel Cadman!" she yelled before running towards the stairs that connected the gate room to the control room.

"Teylanna!" yelled Rodney just before she was about to bound down over the stairs. The little girl stopped and turned to look towards him. He fixed her with a stern look and said, "No running."

She nodded and then carefully walked down the stairs and towards Colonel Laura Cadman. "Hi, Colonel Cadman," Teylanna said as she approached the older woman.

"Well hello there, Tey," replied Laura with a smile as wide as it was heartfelt. She knelt down in front of the excited little girl and reached into her tac vest. "I think I have something here that belongs to you." She pulled her hand from the vest and in her hand was an Athosian doll. "Your Aunt Jeannie said you left it at her house."

"Sally!" shrieked Teylanna as she snatched the doll from Cadman's hand. She hugged the doll into her chest for a moment before launching herself at the older woman, wrapping her arms around the Marine's neck in a hug that was far too strong for a normal nine year old.

Rodney moved to the railing and watched the scene with a satisfied warmth in his chest.

"You've made her day," said Jennifer as she joined him at the rail. She cuddled into his right side and as his arm went around her shoulder she asked, "How'd you manage it?"

Rodney gave his wife a gentle yet entirely smug grunt and said, "It took hours and hours of planning, crunching numbers and putting pieces into place. It worked perfectly, of course, as I knew it would."

There was silence for a moment and then Jennifer said, "You asked Jean to give it to Laura?"

Rodney held onto his bravado for a moment and then sighed. "Jeannie sent a message telling me that she sent it to the SGC," he replied sullenly. "I knew Cadman was coming on the new bridge, so I sent her message asking her to pick it up before coming through the gate."

Jennifer leaned upward and gave her husband a gentle kiss on the cheek. "That was incredibly thoughtful and wonderful of you."

"Well, that's me isn't it?" he replied with his typical self-importance. "Thoughtful and wonderful."

Jennifer gave him the small laugh she knew he was expecting and then turned to watch Cadman pick up her daughter and walk towards the stairs. "It can be."


	20. Second Wind

Rodney knew there were times when being a genius was more trouble than it was worth. Times like when his father looked at him like he had ten heads after he'd said something that a six year old had no business knowing; times when bullies of less than average intelligence who resented his brilliance mercilessly pushed him around until a teacher would finally show up and end it; times when college girls looked at him only as a way to help their grades and not as a true friend or something more; and, of course, times like the one in which he found himself today, times when he was the only one who could fix something that would save their asses from being filled with lead or whatever the beasts shooting at them used for bullets.

He reflexively ducked and covered his head with his hands as a bullet ricocheted off the DHD he was desperately trying to repair. He was half tempted to turn around and tell whoever the hell was shooting at them to be careful, but the thought fled his mind rather quickly as another ricochet had him ducking again.

Instead of wasting his fury at those currently making his job and therefore his life difficult, he turned his scorn upon those he had to trust, and to tell the truth he really did trust them, to watch his back.

"Will you **please**," he yelled with sarcastic emphasis on the normally magic word, "keep them from shooting at me while I try to fix the one thing we need working to get us the hell out of here!" He replaced the crystal he had removed and took out another one. "If one of those bullets gets in here I'll never be able to fix it and we'll be screwed!"

A burst of fire from a P-90 erupted from his immediate right and he jumped and nearly dropped the crystal he'd been inspecting. He looked up to find Sheppard kneeling next to him. The Colonel fired off another burst as he turned his attention back to the DHD.

"How much longer, Rodney?" asked Sheppard as his eyes intently swept the tree line.

"It depends on a bunch of things that you wouldn't understand and I don't have time to explain about," Rodney replied harshly. He ducked as yet another bullet ricocheted off the DHD then thrust his hands back into the crystalline guts of the DHD. "It wouldn't take long at all if those guys would go and get a hobby or something."

Sheppard gave Rodney what he figured was supposed to come off as a roguish grin and fired at two brave (or was it stupid?) souls who were trying to rush them from the right. "Come on, Rodney…you know you love it."

"Yes, I love missing breakfast because you wanted to leave so early, and wasting my time on primitive planets and getting my ass shot at all the time. Give me a…" He stopped as power began coursing through the crystals. He quickly withdrew his hands and quickly stood up. "That's it!"

"Dial it!" ordered Sheppard as he jumped between their attackers and Rodney and fired into the trees just above their heads.

The gate exploded to life and Rodney punched in his code on the GDO resting on his wrist. "We're good to go!"

He bolted towards the silver event horizon and stopped just as it came within his reach. He turned and raised his 9mm and pointed it over the heads of their pursuers and squeezed the trigger four times, covering Teyla as she made her way up the three stairs to the gate. She stopped as well and mimicked Rodney's actions with her P-90, firing short burst after short burst at the natives. A moment later Ronon and Sheppard were before them and the Colonel ordered them through the gate

Rodney rushed into the event horizon and nearly fell to his knees in exhaustion and relief a few moments later when he arrived in the cool gate room of Atlantis.

Somehow he managed to keep upright and simply stopped in the middle of the gate room, sighing deeply as he leaned his head up towards the ceiling and tried to stretch some of the pain out of his back.

His head snapped back to its usual position as he felt a small but firm hand on his right shoulder.

"Are you injured, Rodney?" asked Teyla, concern evident in her voice as well as eyes.

He mumbled a response and his head turned towards her voice. When she raised a questioning eyebrow at him he repeated, "I'm so tired. I want to go home, crawl into bed and not even think about getting up for three days" He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm getting too old for this sh…"

"Daddy!"

Both Rodney and Teyla turned toward the source of call. Teylanna was running towards them as fast as she could, a wide grin on her lips framed by gold locks that swayed to and fro as she ran.

When she reached Rodney she latched onto his legs, the impact causing him to waver slightly, and cuddled into him. "I'm so glad you're back," her muffled voice said. She looked up at him and added, "Can we finish my project now?"

Rodney looked down into the bright blue eyes of his eight year old daughter, eyes full of hope and affection, and then felt a twinge in his back that had become his constant companion over the last couple of years and said the only thing he could. "Of course we can." He smiled as she released him and clapped her hands together excitedly. "You go on and get ready and I'll be there as soon as I get changed."

The little girl nodded and turned to leave, but stopped in mid-turn and stepped over to hug Teyla. "Welcome back, Aunt Teyla," she said as she hugged the Athosian.

Teyla smiled as she returned the hug and said, "Thank you, Tey…it is good to be home."

Teylanna leaned back and said, "I have to go," before turning around and rushing towards the exit.

When she passed though the door Rodney sighed.

"Are you okay, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

Rodney turned and gave his teammate and friend a resolute nod, and when he spoke his voice was crisp and full of energy. "Never better."


	21. Uncle Radek

MGM owns SGA.

According to multiple online sources, 'anděl' translates as 'angel'.

* * *

Teylanna edged her way towards Radek's desk, intent once again upon scaring the living daylights out of her uncle. In the dozens of times she'd tried in her ten year old life, she'd failed each and every time. Every time she'd gotten close to him he'd turn around or move away as to spoil her stealthy approach.

She crept along the desk with silence that she was sure Uncle Ronon would be proud of until Uncle Radek was on the opposite side of the desk. She could hear the clicking of his laptop keyboard, the rhythm of which hadn't varied from the time she entered the lab up to now.

She rocked back onto her haunches and rocked forward, counting as she did.

_One… two…_

"Hello, my little anděl."

Teylanna jumped up, but instead of yelling 'Surprise!' as she had intended she complained with a pronounced pout, "Uncle Radek! How did you know it was me?"

Radek gave Teylanna a wink as he said, "You are the only person on Atlantis who tries to sneak up on me."

"That's not true," she said adamantly and with a resolute shake of her blond head for emphasis. "Daddy sneaks up on you all the time."

Radek grimaced, but covered it quickly enough that it went unnoticed. "Yes, well I wouldn't exactly call what your father does 'sneaking'," replied Radek. "It's more like power stalking."

Teylanna wrinkled her nose at the term but let it slide. She moved quickly around the desk and peered around Radek to see his laptop. "What are you doing?"

"Just checking over these power consumption reports," he explained as he turned his attention back to them. "Something is not quite right with them."

Teylanna looked at the numbers flowing across the screen and shrugged. "Is the problem with generator number four?"

Radek turned and gave a bemused look to his niece. "Yes."

She pointed to a particular line of numbers and her brow scrunched in concentration. "These numbers are out of sequence," she said slowly as she processed the math in her head. "If these numbers were entered in reverse order, it would turn out okay."

Radek leaned forward and studied the numbers Teylanna had indicated. "You're right, my little anděl. Someone must have entered them incorrectly."

Teylanna crossed her arms across her chest and said, "It was Kavanagh, wasn't it?"

Radek laughed, more at the way she looked eerily similar to her father with that particular pose than the question itself. "I am not sure, but I will find out." He turned and gave her a smile. "Thank you for helping me. You will make a fine physicist when you grow up."

Teylanna shook her head. "I think I want to be a doctor like Mommy."

Radek's eyebrows rose in surprise. The little genius had always shown a tremendous aptitude for physics, a fact that had delighted Rodney to no end. "Does your father know this?'

Teylanna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He hasn't asked lately, and I haven't told him."

Radek placed his hand on her shoulder. "May I ask a favor then?" When the girl nodded he said, "Make sure I am there when you tell him. Please."

"Okay," Teylanna said, her voice making it clear she didn't understand why. "Do you know where Daddy is now?"

Radek nodded as he edited the power numbers on his laptop. Sure enough, when he reversed the sequence everything appeared as is should have been. "Yes. He went to M7G-677 to check on something. He should be back very soon."

"He likes going there," Teylanna said as she sat down on the chair next to Radek.

Radek couldn't help but laugh at that, and when Teylanna gave him a curious look he explained. "It was not always that way. There were many times when he sent me to that planet because he didn't like to be around the children. That all changed though."

Teylanna was shocked. Her father was always happy to be around her, and even the other children on Atlantis. Well most of them anyway. "When did it change, Uncle Radek?"

Radek smiled and nodded towards her as he said, "When you came along."


	22. Now That's a Mall!

MGM owns SGA. Not me. All info taken from the West Edmonton Mall website. My math could be off, as I did that part a while ago and I'm too lazy to check it. :)

* * *

Rodney McKay had faced many dangers in his life, almost all of them exclusively as a result of his work, although there was the time the Bunsen burner exploded in grade four and scorched his eyebrows. It hadn't been his fault, but still. He'd also had many times where he thought he was going to lose his expansive and valuable mind. Again those times were almost always because of his work. Or more to the point they were **mostly** because of work, because there had been a good many days over the last seventeen years when the sun had set and his mind remained intact only by the most fragile of threads and work had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Today was one of those days.

Rodney sighed and, for the sixth time since sitting down on the bench well over four hours ago, went over the information in his head. He knew there were over eight hundred stores in the mall that covered forty-eight city blocks of space and the number boggled his mind. Eight hundred places full of crap that people willingly wasted their hard earned money on. The online directory of stores in the mall was divided into 32 categories. Some he knew without a doubt would fall within the interests of his wife and daughter- such as Department Stores, Jewellery and Accessories, Ladies Wear and Shoes. There were others he was equally certain would not warrant a visit from them- Automotive, Medical, Dental and Optical and Travel, for example. There were two that he sincerely hoped they wouldn't have interest in for obvious reasons- Bridal and Maternity. He was quite certain the already fraying thread holding his sanity in check would snap if he found out his little girl had been in any stores that fell into those categories.

All in all, there were seventeen categories that he figured covered stores that wouldn't interest Jennifer and Teylanna. Despite the elimination of fifty-three percent of the categories in the directory, it only counted for approximately (after all he didn't go through each and every store…who had that kind of time?) two hundred and fifty stores, or thirty-one percent. For the sake of argument, and his sanity, he'd decided to double that number to sixty-two percent to cover redundancy. How many shoe stores could they go to?

Still, that left around three hundred stores. He then cut that number in half, more out an attempt to simply lower the number to a more manageable and sensible one than any scientific or tangible reason.

And after years of study and observation he knew that, on average, Jennifer and Teylanna would spend around 47 minutes in each store. They didn't of course. Both female McKays were very particular about their shoes and were never ones to try new or different footwear. They generally went into those stores, found what they wanted and left. Usual shopping time at a shoe store: twelve minutes.

Clothing stores, on the other hand, were totally different beasts. The times for those stores depended on whether or not they had an idea of what they were looking for or what they needed. If they had a plan, it took twenty-eight minutes on average. If they didn't…Rodney sighed again.

This was one of those times where they were 'just shopping' more or less just for the sake of shopping, which to him was like getting fed upon by a Wraith just for the sake of getting fed upon by a Wraith.

"_We don't get to go shopping that often, Rodney,"_ Jennifer had said three weeks ago when the trip had been announced and she'd mentioned taking Teylanna shopping. _"It's been almost eight months since our last trip back and Tey could really use a few things."_

In the end he'd had to concede she had a point. Being in another galaxy where shopping centers were nonexistent and depending on the SGC definitely crimped the style of a seventeen year old girl. Of course, the way Teylanna gave him the wide-eyed, pleading look hadn't helped. Jennifer had taught her well.

So when the time had rolled around to get ready to come to Earth to visit family and go shopping, he had pretty much been on board with it. More or less. That is until they told him they wanted to go to the largest shopping mall in North America: the West Edmonton Mall.

Rodney looked around and sighed at the throng of people milling about, bumping into each other and going about their shopping. The grumbling he heard and the hard looks between the patrons he saw only stood to reinforce his belief that the mall, much like a Hive ship, was a place to be avoided at all costs.

That is until a young man stopped in front of him, holding in his arms a young girl with curly brown hair and big brown eyes. She looked to be around the age of four or five.

Rodney watched the little girl look around, her eyes wide, bright and full of wonder, as though seeing things her young mind had never thought even existed. She was enthralled with her surroundings; amazed at what she heard- the music floating from the speakers, the bings and chings coming from the nearby arcade, the voices of the people- and saw- the people moving around her, the lights of the stores and sheer expanse of the place.

The father moved away from Rodney, the little girl craning her neck to try to take in as much as possible and Rodney smiled at her when she caught his eye. She smiled back and something clicked in his mind.

He sat up straight and looked around… **really** looked around. There were children of all ages milling around, younger ones attached in one way or another to parents and older ones just walking by. Many were smiling; some were laughing with friends; more than a few looked awestruck.

He looked around and, for a second, tried to see the place through the eyes of a child. He sighed and wondered for the first time in seventeen years if raising Teylanna on Atlantis had been the right thing to do. She had never lacked anything on Atlantis, and her brilliant mind received all the stimulation in the world by being there with some of the most intelligent minds Earth produced. Friends her own age were in short supply on Atlantis, but what friends she did have were good and true friends.

She'd been exposed to danger as well, of course, but what child wasn't exposed to dangers of one kind or another during their life?

Rodney sat back and felt a pang of regret at denying Teylanna the opportunity that came with living on Earth, that came with being in a place where she would have a better opportunity to flourish even more than she had.

"Rodney?"

Rodney looked up into a pair of concerned brown eyes. He smiled at Jennifer, then looked over to Teylanna, an identical look of worry in her blue eyes.

"Hey," he said somewhat wistfully. "All done?"

"Almost," replied Jennifer. "Are you okay?"

Rodney nodded and motioned to the numerous bags each woman held in their hands. "I see the bank accounts have taken a hit," he said.

"A little," said Jennifer, her eyes boring into his trying to ascertain if he was okay.

"So what do you have there?" he asked Teylanna to avoid looking into Jennifer's eyes.

Teylanna was looking at him with almost as much intensity as her mother, but she lifted the bags, shifted her gaze to them and said, "I got some really nice shoes, those comfortable ones that I like, and some clothes." She looked up and Rodney thought he could see her blush a little. "And I got some really nice stuff at La Vie en Rose."

Rodney looked at the gaggle of bags his daughter was holding in her hands. "One, two, three…four bags from there," he said with raised brows after counting the bags that had a large pink rose on them. "I'd say you got a lot of nice stuff from there."

Teylanna cleared her throat and glanced at her mother, who Rodney noticed had the oddest of smiles on her face.

He was getting that sinking feeling.

Again.

"Can you watch these for me, Dad?" she said as she laid the bags at his feet. She gave him a kiss on his cheek as she straightened up and said as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, "There's just one more store I have to go to. Then I'm all done."

She was gone before Rodney could say anything. He watched her go and the nagging feeling of having deprived her of so much continued to gnaw at him as Jennifer sat down beside him.

"You okay?" she asked as she slipped her arm around his waist.

"I'm fine," he replied. His head turned towards her and he said, "I was just wondering if we did the right thing not raising her," he looked around and whispered, "here."

Jennifer smiled and snuggled up against her husband. "I think we did the right thing. As a matter of fact, I know we did."

"Really?"

Jennifer nodded. "Really."

The weight that had been perched on his shoulders for the last few minutes lifted. "Well, if you know it then it must be true." He sighed and nodded towards the bags Jennifer had laid at her feet. "So what did you get?"

"Oh this and that," she replied with a smirk.

Rodney leaned forward and looked amongst the bags. "Nothing from this La Vie en Rose place, hmm?"

Jennifer smiled and her eyes twinkled. "I'm afraid not. That's more of a younger woman's store, I'm afraid."

Rodney made a distinct sound of incredulity. "I'm positive you would look absolutely gorgeous in whatever they have in there."

Jennifer's lower lip began to quiver with repressed laughter. "You have no idea what kind of store La Vie en Rose is do you?"

Rodney shook his head, then watched as his wife leaned over and picked up the closest La Vie en Rose bag to her. She placed it on her lap and reached inside. When she pulled the item out, Rodney's eyes went saucer sized and his vision began to cloud over with a red mist.

"It's a…it's a…it's a…it's a…"

"Lingerie store," finished Jennifer as she replaced the hot pink thong with matching bra in the bag.

Rodney tried to regain control over his breathing, which had gone rogue when he hadn't been paying attention. Once he did it took three gulps to get the sour taste out of his mouth, and when he did he looked to his wife and said, "Yes, we definitely did the right thing by staying in the city. We should go back there." He stood up and nodded eagerly at Jennifer. "Now." When Jennifer didn't move he pleaded, "Please."

He sat back down a moment later when Jennifer patted the bench. He sighed when Jennifer cuddled into him again and thought, _How the hell can I get rid of those bags without being caught._

"Rodney?"

"Hmm," he responded, his attention still mostly focused on hatching plans to rid Teylanna of her lingerie.

"You're not doing anything to those bags," she said warningly, "or what's inside of them."

Rodney sighed. "Fine." He took in a deep breath and muttered as he released it, "Give me the Wraith any day."


	23. White Light Christmas

First off, this fic takes place after Rodney's death, ostensibly of natural causes. If that bothers you (Dani!) stop reading. :)

I will say that I tried to have it a feel good ending. Don't know if it comes through or not, but I've had this on my computer since last Christmas, so I think it's time to get rid of it. Right, Dani? Oh right….she might not read this far!

MGM owns SGA. It's unbeta-ed, so all mistakes are my responsibility.

Fluffy Christmas stuff to follow, I hope. Merry Christmas to all.

* * *

Dr. Jennifer Keller quickly raised her head up as her daughter walked into the living room, hoping that the younger woman hadn't noticed that she'd been napping. "Is she asleep yet?"

Teylanna sat down heavily in the chair across form her mother and closed her eyes. "Finally." Her blue eyes opened and asked the question of her mother before her mouth did. "Was I ever that bad?"

Jennifer laughed as she carefully tucked a stray strand of graying hair behind her right ear. "You were worse," she informed her daughter with an air of joviality that annoyed the younger woman. "Your father would get you to bed, most likely after five or six false starts, and when you finally fell asleep he would dart all over the city retrieving gifts to put under the tree."

Teylanna smiled as she thought up the image of her father running around the city with a bag full of gifts…her very own Santa Claus in the Pegasus galaxy.

"When you were six he finally figured out a way to make it easier," explained Jennifer, oblivious to the wistful look in her daughter's eyes. "He stored all the gifts in one of his top secret, no one enter or you'll never have hot water again labs and had the _Daedalus_ beam them into our quarters after you fell asleep." Jennifer's nose wrinkled as she remembered something. "Although one year it was the _Apollo_, and another year it was the _Hammond_. Whatever ship was around and he could threaten to do it, I suppose." Jennifer adjusted the tiny wire-framed glassed resting on the bridge of her nose and smiled. "He was so mad at himself for not thinking of it sooner."

"I bet he was," sighed Teylanna as her eyes flickered to the picture of her and her father on her graduation day that rested solemnly on the table.

Jennifer noticed and pushed a melancholy sigh past her lips. "I miss him, too," she whispered as she fought to keep her eyes from filling with tears that had come so often in the past eight months.

Teylanna jumped up and rushed over to sit next to her mother. She wrapped her right arm around her mother's shoulders and drew her close. "It's just not the same without him here," she said with a sad sigh of her own.

"No," Jennifer agreed with a sniffle. She coughed to clear her throat and then straightened up. "And he certainly wouldn't want us to be sad on Christmas Eve because of him," she said, the conviction of that belief making her voice strong and crystal clear.

Teylanna leaned back to look at her mother and couldn't help but smile. People always said that her father was stubborn, but they never realized that her mother could be just as bad, or good, depending on the situation.

"You're right, Mom," she said after a moment. She stood up and walked around the coffee table, then turned to face her mother. "I guess we're ready."

Jennifer eased herself up from the couch and made her way around the small table. Once she was standing next to her daughter, Teylanna took a step towards the desk off to her left to retrieve her comm., but stopped when a bright white light flashed around the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. When the light faded away the tree was surrounded by presents of different shapes and sizes and wrapped in different colors of wrapping paper, from a subdued green to a zany blue, yellow and green concoction.

Jennifer looked to Teylanna, and seeing surprise in her daughter's eyes she shrugged to tell her she had no idea what was happening.

Teylanna shrugged back to her mother, then moved to investigate the gifts. She knew before she even got close that they were the gifts that she had hidden in one of the city's storage rooms, just as her father had done many times before. She shook her head and walked quickly over to the desk to get her comm. and placed it in her right ear. She tapped it and said, "Come in _Sheppard_. This is…"

'We're ready for transport when you are, Tey,' came the voice of her husband and the commander of the _John Sheppard_. 'Just give the word.'

"You didn't already send it?" she asked, the massive intellect she'd been blessed with by both her mother and father calling up the possible explanations for the sudden and unbidden appearance of the gifts, and then dismissing each one almost immediately.

"Tey," her mother's voice gently beckoned as her husband's voice filtered through the mini speaker in her ear.

'No we haven't sent anything, Tey.' His voice took on an anxious edge and she could practically see him leaning forward in his command chair, ready to pounce the instant he thought there was something to be worried about. 'What's going on?'

"Teylanna."

Teylanna started turning towards her mother at her second summons and out of the corner of her eye, for the briefest of instants, her mother seemed to be enveloped in a light, a shroud of energy so purely white that all she could see was her mother's silhouette. By the time she'd fully turned so that she was facing her mother, there was no sign of any light. Teylanna looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, and when her mother simply looked at her with her usual smile upon her lips, she passed it off as a trick of her peripheral vision or imagination.

Jennifer nodded towards the newly arrived gifts, bathed as they were in the multitude of colors being cast off by the lights of the tree. "It's fine, dear," she said, her voice the essence of assurance.

Teylanna could see that her mother truly believed that it was, and she trusted her mother. "Ah, everything is okay here, _Sheppard._"

'Are you sure, Tey?'

"I'm sure. The gifts are here and I'll see you bright and early. Love you. Out." She reached up and quickly killed the line, knowing that her husband would be pissed and she would have some serious making up to do eventually. But right now the more important thing to her was her mother and the serene look upon her face.

"If you don't mind, I think I should turn in for the night." When her daughter's face became worried Jennifer held up her hand and said, "I'm fine, just a little tired. It's getting late and it's been a long day."

Teylanna cursed herself for forgetting that her mother was over sixty years old and had only earlier that day traveled to Atlantis from Earth via the Stargate. Her mother was the picture of health, but a day as long as she'd had would make anyone tired. "Of course, Mom," she said as she walked towards her mother. She wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders and pulled her into a warm hug. She knew her mother would be angry if she'd started apologizing so she said, "Of course I don't mind." She eased back from her mother and found her brown eyes to be clear and alert despite her declaration of being tired. "I'm going to turn in soon, too." Her smile turned into a dry one, and with a glance towards her child's door she added, "I imagine it's going to be an early morning."

Jennifer laughed and nodded knowingly at her daughter. "That has been my experience. Good night, dear."

Teylanna released her mother and returned the sentiment. "Good night, Mom." She watched her mother make her way to the guest room, and when she was about to enter it something within Teylanna compelled her to say, "Mom?" When Jennifer looked back at her Teylanna said, "I'm so glad you're here."

Jennifer smiled lovingly at her daughter. "Me too, Tey. I wouldn't have missed it for anything."

Teylanna returned her mother's smile as the latter woman went into her room and closed the door. Teylanna stared at the door for a moment, then checked the time- 2347 hours- before turning to regard the gifts and contemplating their mysterious appearance.

* * *

Four hours later Teylanna gingerly and as quietly as possible made her way through the darkened living room towards the kitchen. Her eyes were still half-filled with sleep and her mind was only partly aware of what her body was doing. After seeing her mother off to bed, she'd spent the better part of three hours going over sensor logs and city diagnostics trying to determine how the gifts had arrived under the tree.

Without success.

And during those three wasted hours she'd downed so much water that five minutes ago she'd had to leave the warm sanctuary of her bed and use the washroom. And, of course, after leaving the bathroom she found herself thirsty again, necessitating her current trek to the kitchen. She took a bottle of water from the fridge and headed back towards her room, sparing only a glance at the tree and the booty resting beneath the branches as she passed by.

Teylanna opened the bottle and took a mouthful of water as she walked through the living room, and as she finished tightening the cap on the bottle she froze. Her heart began thumping an increasingly loud drumbeat in her chest and her breathing quickened at the sight of an unearthly white glow peeking out into the living room underneath the door to the guest room- her mother's room.

The bottle dropped to the floor and bounced away from her as she bolted to the door. She passed her hand over the sensor that should have opened the door three times without success, and then put both hands on the cold door and leaned close to it to listen for any sounds coming from inside.

Nothing.

Her left hand stayed on the door as she moved back to face it. She drew her right arm upwards, making a fist with her hand that she intended to bang against the door to get her mother's attention. She was just about to slam the door when her left hand suddenly became warm.

Teylanna's eyes widened as the area where her hand was touching the door turned white. She opened her mouth to yell out to her mother, but when the light leeched through the door and onto her hand the only word that came from her mouth was, "Dad?"

Her hand glowed as the light enveloped it, and she knew. She could easily feel the warmth of her father's love, his pride in her and his promise to always be with her.

Tears formed in Teylanna's eyes, though they didn't fall until a minute later when the light began to slide off her hand and back through the door into her mother's room.

She wanted to call out to him, to beg him not to leave, but her rational mind was still holding on enough to know that he couldn't.

As the last vestiges of light disappeared from the door, leaving it and her hand once again dark and cold, Teylanna looked down to see the already bright light underneath he door intensify.

Teylanna caressed the door where the light had been and then reluctantly removed her hand. She smiled, and after taking in a shaky breath she whispered with all the love she felt, "Merry Christmas, Mom…and Dad."


	24. Zed, Not Zee!

Rodney was working from home, so to speak, which certainly happened more often than it used to. But with Jennifer off world on one of her medical outreach program visits, he had the honor of spending a lot of quality time with his little girl.

He looked up from the tablet he'd been hunched over for a while and took a peek at Teylanna as she peered intently at the homework displayed upon her own tablet. After a moment he frowned and straightened up- his daughter looked mad.

"What's wrong, Tey?"

"Nothing," the four year old replied without looking up.

Rodney's frown deepened but he didn't say anything. He and Jennifer had found that the little genius would respond better and talk to them more often if they let her find her own time to do so. Pushing never ever helped with Teylanna, a trait that Jennifer had declared had come from him.

He couldn't argue.

He looked back down to his tablet in an effort to finish his current project, stealing brief glances at his daughter every few minutes. Each and every time he looked at her he saw the same anger upon her little features. He focused on his own work for a minute and when he looked up again he nearly jumped out of his clothes when he found his stealthy daughter standing right next to him.

Stealth was a trait she'd inherited from Jennifer.

"Holy cra….ckers," said Rodney, barely keeping his language in check. He smiled to let Teylanna know he was okay and not upset at all. "You startled me."

"Daddy?" said Teylanna, her voice and face serious, "I have a question."

Rodney raised an eyebrow in surprise and anticipation- her questions were usually good ones.

Her head tilted a millimeter to the right, just like Jennifer's did when she wanted to ask him something monumental. "I'm Canadian, right?"

"Well," replied Rodney, hiding his surprise well, "yes, and you're American."

"Because you're from the Dominion of Canada and Mommy is from the United States of America," she stated.

"That's right," replied an amused Rodney with a nod. "Yes." She hadn't even been three years old when she'd demanded to know why the flag patches on his and her mother's arms were different.

"Are you proud to be Canadian, Daddy?"

This time Rodney could do nothing to mask the surprise he was feeling. "I guess so," he said, then blanched as he heard the absurdity in his voice. "Yes," he clarified resolutely. "I'm proud to be Canadian. Why…?"

"And Mommy is proud to be American?"

Rodney nodded and then asked, "What's bringing this on, Teylanna?"

In response Teylanna placed the mini tablet she had in her hands on the table. "What's this, Daddy?"

Rodney looked at the screen and then looked at his daughter. "I thought you were supposed to be doing homework."

"I didn't have any, Daddy," she replied, and before he could ask she said, "I did it all in school."

Rodney nodded and looked at her tablet again. Taking up nearly the whole screen was a picture of a…. "It's a Zero Point Module," replied Rodney, only a little surprised to see that she'd been studying that device.

Teylanna let out a small puff of breath that was as much frustration as it was impatience. "Yes, Daddy, I know what it is. But what do **you** call it?"

Rodney was lost for a second, and then it dawned on him. "Oh. It's a ZedPM.

Teylanna nodded somewhat absently. "Thank you, Daddy," she replied before turning around and trotting back to the couch.

Rodney watched his little girl settle down on the couch and focus intently on her tablet. She remained still for some time, absorbed in her work.

Rodney slowly turned his attention back to his own work, though he kept checking on Teylanna from time to time, and each time she had been engrossed with her work. After half an hour Rodney softly sighed and thought, _What was that about?_

* * *

"And you have no idea why Dr. Allen would want to see us?"

Rodney rolled his eyes at his wife and managed, somehow, to keep what he said next from coming out as a whine or growl. "No idea at all." At Jennifer's dubious look Rodney shook his head. "Tey was perfectly fine the whole time you were gone, Jennifer." Rodney took a second to think back over the last two days to verify what he'd said. "Nothing happened. She went to school. She came home from school, did her homework if she didn't already have it done and so on."

Jennifer could tell that Rodney really had no idea why Dr. Alana Allen, one of the anthropologists who doubled as one of the volunteer teachers to school aged children, wanted to see them. She tried to get more comfortable on the couch and only partially succeeded before the door opened to admit Dr. Allen.

"Hey guys," she said with a smile as she went to her desk. As she sat down she said, "Just give me one minute to update this file and I'll be right with you."

As Allen started typing furiously on her computer, Jennifer took a moment to think about the teacher. Alana Allen was a petite young woman, 'young' being a relative term as she was only a few years younger than her, with attractive green eyes and brown hair that flowed down to the middle of her back. Jennifer had instantly befriended the likable anthropologist, and she could tell from the get go that the other woman was as intelligent as she was beautiful.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by Rodney poking her in the thigh with his hand. When she looked at him he motioned forward with his head, and when she turned in that direction she found that Allen had moved to sit on a chair across from them and was looking at her with a slight grin on her lips. "I'm sorry?"

Allen laughed and gave Jennifer an understanding smile. "I asked how your trip was," she said before looking down to the tablet she had resting on her lap.

"Fine, thanks," replied Jennifer more edgily than she'd liked. She cleared her throat after catching a glimpse of Rodney's smug grin out of the corner of her eye and said in a more comfortable voice, "It went very well actually. We managed to help a lot of people and teach them how to look after themselves better."

She shot Rodney a 'Take that!' look and then waited for Alana to speak.

"Excellent." Allen looked to Rodney first and then to Jennifer. "The reason I called you here is there was an incident with Teylanna yesterday."

Jennifer instantly leaned forward to press the matter but stopped when Allen held her hand up to forestall any comment from her or Rodney.

"It's nothing serious," she anxiously clarified. "In fact it's actually minor but something that needs to be addressed. She refuses to call the letter zee by its correct name."

Jennifer sensed Rodney stiffen next to her and genuinely felt sorry for what Alana was about to hear.

"And what does she call it?" asked Rodney, his voice as stiff as his posture had become.

If Alana noticed Rodney's sudden frostiness she didn't let on as she replied, "She constantly says 'zed' instead of 'zee', and in the approved curriculum…"

"Approved curriculum?" repeated Rodney as though the phrase left a sour taste in his mouth. Jennifer reached over to cover his hand with hers, but he merely shrugged it off and stood up to glare down at the seated Allen.

"Our daughter is smarter than any of us were at her age," he said with more than a little pride. "She's part Canadian and as a Canadian she's well within her right to call that letter zed. It's grammatically correct and used in a number of countries, not just Canada. It's a perfectly acceptable use of the phrase that goes back…"

Forty-two minutes later Jennifer and Rodney strolled arm in arm through the corridors of Atlantis. Jennifer could tell by his shallow breaths, red face and set jaw that he was still pissed off by what he'd called Alana's 'unsuccessful attempt to get Teylanna to conform to her American imperialistic grammatical rules'. Allen, to her credit, took all of Rodney's forty minute rant without so much as a whimper which was truly impressive. After all, Jennifer had seen battle hardened Marines shed a tear after receiving one of Rodney's dress downs.

"The nerve," seethed Rodney through clenched teeth. "Saying our daughter was wrong! Wrong! When she clearly wasn't. What kind of message does that sort of erroneous attitude send to an impressionable and very intelligent four year old?"

"Easy, Rodney," replied Jennifer. "Your blood pressure must be up around your ears."

"Oh is that a professional diagnosis?" he snapped. He immediately winced and looked over to her and said with an appropriate amount of regret in his voice, "I'm sorry. Really. It's just she…argh!"

Jennifer nodded to let him off the hook even if she internally reserved the right to revisit the comment later, and then smiled as he released her arm and drew her into his side by putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Do you know what I really take from this?" asked Jennifer as she cuddled against Rodney's shoulder.

"What?"

She smiled proudly as she said, "She took a position and stuck with it. That's phenomenal for a child her age."

Jennifer looked up to see a slow, broad smile form on Rodney's face. He clearly hadn't looked at it that way.

"Well she's our kid," he replied a moment later. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head and then said, "What else would we expect?"


End file.
